Mountain State Matters

Today is Mother’s Day, which many probably know was started by a West Virginian.

Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis lived in western Virginia in the nineteenth century (which later became West Virginia during the Civil War). To ease the tensions caused by returning Confederate and Union soldiers after the war, she organized a Mother’s Friendship Day to bring together soldiers and neighbors from both sides. Mothers Friendship Day became an annual event for several years. After Ann’s death, her daughter, Anna, dedicated her life to establishing a national Mother’s Day in honor of her mother. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional resolution marking the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Jarvis’ old church in Grafton, WV is now known as the International Mother’s Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark).

Happy Mother’s Day!

Photo by: Daniel Ross