Few people had as complicated a relationship with Mother’s Day as Anna Jarvis did with the holiday.

Despite her tireless campaign to get the holiday recognized by the United States government, Jarvis ended up denouncing the institution she created, bankrupting herself as she fought against its perceived commercialization. How did that happen?

The roots of Mother’s Day — at least Jarvis’s involvement — date back to the 1850s. Her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, organized work clubs of mothers in their home state of West Virginia for a variety of causes. When the Civil War broke out, Jarvis senior shifted...