 It began in 1907 in a church in Grafton, West Virginia, and grew to become America's most cherished holiday. And mothers everywhere can thank Anna Jarvis. But the Mother's Day movement really began in 1870 with Anna's mother, Ann Jarvis, a peace activist and Civil War nurse. In 1908, Congress rejected her proposal to make Mother's Day an official holiday, joking if they did, they would then have to celebrate a mother-in-law's day.