[1] Jarvis moved to Philippi, Barbour County, (West) Virginia with her family when her father, a Methodist minister, was transferred to a church in that town.

In 1858, while pregnant with her sixth child, Jarvis began Mothers' Day Work Clubs in the towns of Grafton, Pruntytown, Philippi, Fetterman, and Webster to improve health and sanitary conditions.

These clubs raised money to buy medicine and to hire women to work in families where the mother suffered from tuberculosis or other health problems.

The clubs benefited from the advice of Jarvis' brother, James Reeves, a physician who was known for his work in the typhoid fever epidemics in northwestern Virginia.

[8] Jarvis illustrated her resolve to remain neutral and aid both sides by refusing to support a proposed division of the Methodist Church into a northern and southern branch.

[9] Additionally, she reportedly offered a lone prayer for Thornsbury Bailey Brown, the first Union soldier killed by a Confederate in the area, when others refused.

When typhoid fever and measles broke out in the military camps, Jarvis and her club members nursed the suffering soldiers from both sides at the request of a commander.

She and her club members planned a "Mothers Friendship Day" for soldiers from both sides and their families at the Taylor County Courthouse in Pruntytown to help the healing process.

Bands played "Dixie" and the "Star Spangled Banner" and the event ended with everyone, north and south, joining to sing "Auld Lang Syne."

[11] Near the end of the Civil War, in 1864, the Jarvis family moved to Grafton in order to aid Granville's business ventures as an innkeeper and land speculator.

[12] Jarvis also was a popular speaker and often lectured on subjects ranging from religion, public health, and literature for audiences at local churches and organizations.

She succeeded when, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional resolution officially making the second Sunday in May the national Mother's Day and calling for Americans to recognize it by displaying the flag.