Happy Mothers Day

First attempts to establish a holiday  My friends Great great Aunt.  Anna Jarvis

The first attempts to establish a "Mother's Day" in the United States were mostly marked by women's peace groups.^[2]A common early activity was the meeting of groups of mothers whose sons had fought or died on opposite sides of the American Civil War. There were several limited observances in the 1870s and the 1880s but none achieved resonance beyond the local level.^[3]

In 1868, Ann Jarviscreated a committee to establish a "Mother's Friendship Day" whose purpose was "to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War", and she wanted to expand it into an annual memorial for mothers, but she died in 1905 before the celebration became popular.^[3][4] Her daughter Anna Jarvis would her mother's efforts.

In New York City, Julia Ward Howeled a "Mother's Day for Peace" anti-war observance on June 2, 1872,^[5][2][3][6] which was accompanied by a Mother's Day Proclamation. The observance continued in Boston for about 10 years under Howe's personal sponsorship, then died out.^[7]

Several years later a Mother's Day observance on May 13, 1877 was held in Albion, Michigan over a dispute related to the temperance movement.^[8] According to local legend, Albion pioneer Juliet Calhoun Blakeley stepped up to the sermon of the Rev. Myron Daughterty who was distraught because an anti-temperance group had forced his son and two other temperanceadvocates to spend the night in a saloon and become publicly drunk. From the pulpit Blakeley called on other mothers to join her. Blakeley's two sons, both traveling salesmen, were so moved that they vowed to return each year to pay tribute to her and embarked on a campaign to urge their business contacts to do likewise. At their urging, in the early 1880s, the Methodist Episcopal Churchin Albion set aside the second Sunday in May to recognize the special contributions of mothers.

Frank E. Hering, President of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, made a plea for "a national day to honor our mothers" in 1904.^[9][10]

Since the 1870s and the 1880s the Victorian Protestant in the US already held many celebrations and observations like Children's Day, Temperance Sunday, Roll Call Day, Decision Day, Missionary Day and others.^[11]

Jarvis never mentioned Howe or Mothering Sunday, and she never mentioned any connection to the Protestant school celebrations, and she always said that the creation was hers alone.^[12