Anna Jarvis
The woman who created Mother's Day as a heartfelt tribute, then spent her life and fortune fighting the holiday's rampant commercialization.
1864–1948 (age 84)·Founder of Mother's Day·Birthday: May 1·The Gilded Age
Biography
Anna Jarvis's story is a poignant American parable of creation and regret. In 1908, three years after her beloved mother's death, she held a memorial ceremony in Grafton, West Virginia, to honor her and all mothers. Driven by a filial devotion that bordered on obsession, Jarvis launched a relentless letter-writing campaign to newspapers, politicians, and clergy. Her vision was specific: a singular 'Mother's Day,' not 'Mothers' Day,' for each person to honor their own mother with a handwritten letter and perhaps a white carnation. Her crusade succeeded when President Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday in 1914. Yet Jarvis soon watched in horror as florists, card companies, and confectioners co-opted her sentimental holiday. She spent her entire inheritance suing businesses, condemning 'commercial charlatans,' and even lobbying to have the holiday abolished, dying penniless and embittered in a sanitarium.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Anna was born in 1864, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Anna Was Born
The biggest hits of 1864
Anna's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1864Born
President: Abraham Lincoln
1869Started school
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1877Became a teenager
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1880Could drive
Edison patents the incandescent light bulb
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1882Could vote
First electrical power plant opens in New York
President: Chester A. Arthur
1885Turned 21
Karl Benz builds the first gasoline-powered automobile
President: Grover Cleveland
1894Turned 30
President: Grover Cleveland
1904Turned 40
New York City opens its first subway line
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1914Turned 50
World War I begins
President: Woodrow Wilson
1924Turned 60
First Winter Olympics held in Chamonix, France
President: Calvin Coolidge"It Had to Be You" — Isham Jones
1934Turned 70
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stars Fell on Alabama" — Jack TeagardenBest Picture: It Happened One Night
1944Turned 80
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
1948Died at 84
Israel declares independence; Berlin Blockade begins
Gas: $0.26/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Twelfth Street Rag" — Pee Wee HuntBest Picture: Hamlet
Key Achievements
- Successfully campaigned for the official U.S. recognition of Mother's Day, achieved by presidential proclamation in 1914.
- Held the first official Mother's Day memorial service for her own mother in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908.
- Founded the Mother's Day International Association to promote and control her version of the holiday.
- Waged numerous public and legal battles against the commercialization of Mother's Day throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
Did You Know?
She never married and had no children of her own.
Jarvis was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting at a Mother's Day carnation sale.
She preferred the white carnation as the holiday's symbol, calling it emblematic of a mother's pure love.
A persistent legend states florists anonymously paid for a portion of her final medical bills, an irony she would have despised.
“A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world.”
