Jarvis, Anna Maria (1864-1948)

Title

Jarvis, Anna Maria (1864-1948)

Contributor

Phillip, Emelda

Source

Anna Maria Jarvis Image

birthday

1864-03-01

Birthplace

Webster, WV

Death Date

1948-11-24

Occupation

Social Activist

Bank Teller

Advertising Editor

Public School Teacher

Biographical Text

Anna Maria was the 10th daughter out of 13 children to Granville and Ann Reeves Jarvis. Only three of Anna Maria's siblings survived to adulthood along with her. Her mother, Ann Jarvis organized Mother's Day Work Clubs to educate families on infant/child mortality rates and the proper precautions, such as boiling water, to prevent the spread of disease. Anna attended Augusta Female Seminary School (now Mary Baldwin University) and then became a public school teacher in Grafton, West Virginia. A year later she moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee because of her uncle who advised her to become a bank teller. A year later, Anna Maria joined her brother in Philadelphia, where she was an advertising editor for an insurance company. Anna Maria was very close to her mother and wanted to have a day that celebrated the sacrifices of mothers around the world. In 1905, when her mother passed she started advocating for mothers day to be a widespread holiday observed on the second Sunday of May, which was the day that her mother passed.

Jarvis spent a lot of her later years condemning how commercialized the holiday had become. She sued many who tried to profit off of Mother's Day. All of Anna Maria's efforts later left her penniless and she lived with her sister. In 1943, Anna Maria prepared a petition to end Mother's Day but, before the launch of her campaign she was placed in a sanitarium. In 1948, Anna Maria passed away in Chester, Pennsylvania at the age of 83.

Bibliography

Anna Jarvis, Britannica

Anna Maria Jarvis, National Park Service

Anna Jarvis, Wikipedia