Sunday, May 9th is Mother’s Day, and the Germanna Foundation wants to take the time to honor and remember our mothers and foremothers.
Did you know that Mother’s Day was founded by a Germanna descendant? Anna Jarvis devoted years to gaining national recognition for a day to honor mothers, as a fulfillment of a dream held by her own mother, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis.
Pioneering women in North America have been around for centuries. Over 400 years ago, in 1619, more than 100 women were brought to Jamestown as a way of bringing stability to Virginia and ensuring the first permanent English settlement would grow and flourish.
Less than 100 years later, Virginia saw two new settlements with the arrivals of the first and second colonies from Germany in 1714 and 1717. Unlike Jamestown, the groups were made of men, women, and children: families that had agreed to make the arduous trek overseas to begin life in a new world. Many women made the voyage with their husbands and children: some even gave birth while en route to Virginia.
This Mother’s Day, we hope you will honor the pioneering women in your life and remember the legacy of your foremothers and the impact they made not only in your family history, but our nation’s history.
One way to do this is to make a $25 donation per name to the Germanna Foundation and we’ll add them to the Germanna Honor Roll of Mothers on our website.
Submit your names by Thursday, May 6 and we will create a video of all the mothers being honored and share with everyone on Mother’s Day. Anyone and everyone can contribute to honoring their mother today!
To read the full story on the Germanna connection to the founding of Mother’s Day, read this article by Germanna Foundation Trustee, Katharine Brown, Ph.D.
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