Annie's "Mother's Day" History Page


"Mother's Day, United States holiday celebrated on second Sunday
in May; children honor their mothers with cards, gifts, flowers;
first observance in Philadelphia, Pa., 1907, based on suggestions
by Julia Ward Howe in 1872 and Anna Jarvis in 1907;
national observance dates from 1914."
~Quoted from Compton's Encyclopedia~

References for Mother's Day Pages are:
Bartlett, John. 1901. Familiar Quotations; Smith's Bible Dictionary; From my Biblical Cyclopedic
Index; From "so That's in the Bible" by Broadman & Holman Reference Library; Excerpted
from Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia; From my Biblical Cyclopedic Index
& World Book Encyclopedia.


Mother's Day is set apart every year in honor of motherhood. On the second Sunday in May,
many families and churches make a special point of honoring mothers. Many people follow the
custom of wearing a carnation on Mother's Day. A colored carnation means that a person's
mother is living. A white carnation indicates that a person's mother is dead.

Mother's Day, first observed in 1908, was recognized officially by Congress and the President
in 1914. It is celebrated in honor of the nation's mothers on the second Sunday in May.
Mother's Day is one of the holidays that have been designated by Presidential proclamations.

A day for honoring mothers was observed many years ago in England. It was called Mothering
Sunday, and came in mid-Lent. Yugoslavs and people in other nations have observed similar days.


Jarvis, Anna M. (1864-1948), founder of Mother's Day, born Grafton, West Virginia,

Julia Ward Howe made the first known suggestion for a Mother's Day in the United States in
1872. She suggested that people observe a Mother's Day on June 2 as a day dedicated to
peace. For several years, she held an annual Mother's Day meeting in Boston. Mary Towles
Sasseen, a Kentucky schoolteacher, started conducting Mother's Day celebrations in 1887.
Frank E. Hering of South Bend, Ind., launched a campaign for the observance
of Mother's Day in 1904.

Three years later, Anna Jarvis of Grafton, W. Va., and Philadelphia, began a campaign for a
nationwide observance of Mother's Day. She chose the second Sunday in May, and began the
custom of wearing a carnation. On May 10, 1908, churches in Grafton and Philadelphia held
Mother's Day celebrations. The service at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton
honored the memory of Anna Jarvis' own mother, Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis.


At the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1912,
a delegate from Andrews Church introduced a resolution recognizing Anna Jarvis as
the founder of Mother's Day. It suggested that the second Sunday in May
be observed as Mother's Day.

Mother's Day received national recognition on May 9, 1914. On that day, President Woodrow
Wilson signed a joint resolution of Congress recommending that Congress and the executive
departments of the federal government observe Mother's Day. The next year, President Wilson
was authorized to proclaim Mother's Day an annual national observance.


Howe, Julia Ward (1819-1910), an American writer, lecturer, and reformer, was one of the
most famous women of her time. She wrote the words of "The Battle Hymn of the
Republic" and introduced the idea of Mother's Day.

Howe was born in New York City into a prominent family. She married American social reformer
Samuel Gridley Howe in 1843 and moved to Boston. She wrote poems and plays
and helped her husband edit The Commonwealth, an antislavery paper.


In 1861, during the Civil War, Howe visited military camps near Washington, D.C. There she
was inspired to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" to be sung to the tune of the popular
American song "John Brown's Body." It was published in the Atlantic Monthly two months later
and became the major war song of the Union forces.

After the war, Howe became increasingly interested in the women's movement. In 1868, she
helped organize the New England Woman's Club and served for many years as its president.
Howe also became the first president of the New England Woman Suffrage Association.

Howe became noted as a lecturer and writer on literary and other cultural topics as well as on
women's rights. Her writings include A Trip to Cuba (1860), Sex and Education (1874), Modern
Society (1881), Margaret Fuller (1883), and Reminiscences (1899). In 1908,
she became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.


Civil War soldiers liked to create their own marching songs by singing humorous lyrics to familiar
tunes. Early in the war, Union soldiers began to sing the words "John Brown's body lies
a-mouldering in the grave" to the tune of Steffe's hymn. In 1861, American poet and reformer
Julia Ward Howe heard an obscene version of the "John Brown" song at a Union army camp.
She decided to write more appropriate lyrics and composed "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
It was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and soon appeared in all the
Union army hymnbooks.

Mother's Day is set apart every year in honor of motherhood. On the second Sunday in May,
many families and churches make a special point of honoring mothers. Many people follow the
custom of wearing a carnation on Mother's Day. A colored carnation means that a person's
mother is living. A white carnation indicates that a person's mother is dead.

Mother's Day, first observed in 1908, was recognized officially by Congress and the President
in 1914. It is celebrated in honor of the nation's mothers on the second Sunday in May.
Mother's Day is one of the holidays that have been designated by Presidential proclamations.

A day for honoring mothers was observed many years ago in England. It was called Mothering
Sunday, and came in mid-Lent. Yugoslavs and people in other nations have observed similar days.


Jarvis, Anna M. (1864-1948), founder of Mother's Day, born Grafton, West Virginia,

Julia Ward Howe made the first known suggestion for a Mother's Day in the United States in
1872. She suggested that people observe a Mother's Day on June 2 as a day dedicated to
peace. For several years, she held an annual Mother's Day meeting in Boston. Mary Towles
Sasseen, a Kentucky schoolteacher, started conducting Mother's Day celebrations in 1887.
Frank E. Hering of South Bend, Ind., launched a campaign for the observance of
Mother's Day in 1904.

Three years later, Anna Jarvis of Grafton, W. Va., and Philadelphia, began a campaign for a
nationwide observance of Mother's Day. She chose the second Sunday in May, and began the
custom of wearing a carnation. On May 10, 1908, churches in Grafton and Philadelphia held
Mother's Day celebrations. The service at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton
honored the memory of Anna Jarvis' own mother, Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis.


At the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1912, a
delegate from Andrews Church introduced a resolution recognizing Anna Jarvis as the founder of
Mother's Day. It suggested that the second Sunday in May be observed as Mother's Day.

Mother's Day received national recognition on May 9, 1914. On that day, President Woodrow
Wilson signed a joint resolution of Congress recommending that Congress and the executive
departments of the federal government observe Mother's Day. The next year,
President Wilson was authorized to proclaim Mother's Day an annual national observance.


Howe, Julia Ward (1819-1910), an American writer, lecturer, and reformer, was one of the
most famous women of her time. She wrote the words of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
and introduced the idea of Mother's Day.

Howe was born in New York City into a prominent family. She married American social reformer
Samuel Gridley Howe in 1843 and moved to Boston. She wrote poems and plays and
helped her husband edit The Commonwealth, an antislavery paper.


In 1861, during the Civil War, Howe visited military camps near Washington, D.C. There she
was inspired to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" to be sung to the tune of the popular
American song "John Brown's Body." It was published in the Atlantic Monthly two months
later and became the major war song of the Union forces.

After the war, Howe became increasingly interested in the women's movement. In 1868, she
helped organize the New England Woman's Club and served for many years as its president.
Howe also became the first president of the New England Woman Suffrage Association.

Howe became noted as a lecturer and writer on literary and other cultural topics as well as on
women's rights. Her writings include A Trip to Cuba (1860), Sex and Education (1874), Modern
Society (1881), Margaret Fuller (1883), and Reminiscences (1899). In 1908, she became the
first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.


Civil War soldiers liked to create their own marching songs by singing humorous lyrics to familiar
tunes. Early in the war, Union soldiers began to sing the words "John Brown's body lies
a-mouldering in the grave" to the tune of Steffe's hymn. In 1861, American poet and reformer
Julia Ward Howe heard an obscene version of the "John Brown" song at a Union army camp.
She decided to write more appropriate lyrics and composed "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
It was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and soon
appeared in all the Union army hymnbooks.


Other Related Sites:
Who came up with Mother's Day and why? from HowStuffWorks.com

 

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