Kentuckian Mary Towles Sasseen thought to organize a Mother’s Day celebration before anyone else in the land.
Mother’s Day was recognized as a holiday in West Virginia in 1910, and became a national holiday in 1914, primarily through the efforts of Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia. Jarvis is now widely credited as the founder of Mother’s Day.
In the nineteenth century, however, there were several attempts to establish a holiday honoring motherhood. Most of these celebrations were on a local level, or with political motives: one notable mother’s holiday was celebrated in the cause of peace, and another was created to discourage drinking. The first Mother’s Day celebration just for Mom — and the first major effort to create a national holiday in that spirit — happened right here in the fine Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The arbiter of this holiday, Miss Mary Towles Sasseen, was a tall, intelligent woman with auburn hair and a deep love for her mama. Sasseen, a schoolteacher in Henderson, Kentucky, held a Mother’s Day celebration on April 20, 1887, which was her mother’s birthday. As a teacher, Sasseen envisioned that Mother’s Day would be celebrated primarily by children in schools. Since her first celebration, however, the holiday has gradually increased in popularity, drawing in the entire family.
