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Anna
Jarvis, daughter of Anna Reeves Jarvis,
who had moved from Grafton, West Virginia, to
Philadelphia, in 1890, was the power behind the official
establishment of Mother's Day
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swore
at her mother's gravesite in 1905 to dedicate her
life to her mother's project, and establish a Mother's
Day to honor mothers, living and dead
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a
persistent rumor is that Anna's grief was
intensified because she and her mother had quarreled
and her mother died before they could reconcile
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in
1907 she passed out 500 white carnations at her
mother's church, St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal
Church in Grafton, West Virginia -- one for each
mother in the congregation
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May
10, 1908: the
first church -- St. Andrew's in Grafton, West
Virginia -- responded to her request for a Sunday
service honoring mothers
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1908:
John Wanamaker, a Philadelphia merchant, joined the
campaign for Mother's Day
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also
in 1908: the first bill was presented in the U.S.
Senate proposing establishment of Mother's Day, by
Nebraska Senator Elmer Burkett, at the request of
the Young Men's Christian Association. The proposal
was killed by sending it back to committee, 33-14.
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1909:
Mother's Day services were held in 46 states plus
Canada and Mexico
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Anna
Jarvis gave up her job -- sometimes reported as a
teaching job, sometimes as a job clerking in an
insurance office -- to work full-time writing
letters to politicians, clergy members, business
leaders, women's clubs and anyone else she thought
might have some influence
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Anna
Jarvis was able to enlist the World's Sunday
School Association in the lobbying campaign, a
key success factor in convincing legislators in
states and in the U.S. Congress to support the
holiday
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1912:
West Virginia became the first state to adopt an
official Mother's Day
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1914:
the U.S. Congress passed a Joint Resolution, and
President Woodrow Wilson signed it, establishing Mother's
Day, emphasizing women's role in the family (not
as activists in the public arena, as Howe's Mother's
Day had been)
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