Recalling her own mother’s wish for mothers everywhere to be honored for the service they render to their families and the community, Anna Jarvis began a quest a hundred years ago.

In 1908, Jarvis held a memorial service at Andrews Methodist Church in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia, and a second one in Philadelphia that same day, and started her campaign to establish a National Mother’s Day.

Driven by the desire to honor her mother, Jarvis kept campaigning, gathering letters and speaking out on the need to honor mothers – a tenaciousness that most likely ran in the family. Her mother – Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis – organized women in West Virginia to care for and feed wounded soldiers during the Civil War, and was widely credited with healing emotional wounds after the war by organizing events that brought together Confederate and Union families.

In 1914, Congress granted Jarvis the national holiday she had long sought – making Anna Jarvis the “Mother of Mother’s Day.”

Today in the U.S., there are roughly 83 million mothers. In fact more than half of women between the ages of 15 and 44 are mothers. That makes for one major holiday celebration, and this year it is May 11.

"As we mark the 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, we pay tribute to the important roles mothers play in our homes, communities and civic organizations, said Gayle Manchin, first lady of West Virginia. “They provide understanding, unconditional love and endless inspiration."

But as a side note, you should know that Jarvis became disillusioned with what had become of Mother’s Day in later years:

“A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more than you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother – and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.”

Sources: West Virginia State Archives, U.S. Census Bureau, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Agriculture and WV.gov