In 1907, Anna Jarvis held a memorial service for her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, a peace activist who created Mothers’ Day Work Clubs in the 1850s to promote children’s health. The elder Jarvis’s commitment to hygienic childcare was borne of tragedy, as she lost nine children to epidemics spread through unsanitary conditions common during the 19th century. This was the genesis of Mother’s Day, and one many of us might wrongly think is now obsolete.