Eventhough she never a mother herself, Anna Jarvis is the reason you celebrate Mothers Day. She is never married and had no children. But she is recognized as the ‘Mother of Mothers Day’. She was born in town of Webster in Taylor County, West Virginia on May 1, 1864.

She was the ninth of eleven children born to Ann Marie and Granville Jarvis. Her family moved to Grafton when Anna was a year old. She graduated from what is now Mary Baldwin College in 1883.

After the death of her mother in 1905, Anna Jarvis resolved to honor her mother. Anna Jarvis began her efforts to help Mother’s Day gain commercial and political support. Anna organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs in West Virginia with the objective of improving sanitary conditions and improving infant mortality rates in her area.

By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state of the Union. And in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the official announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the second Sunday of May.