Merc, I really enjoyed that little history lesson
It ties in nicely with my current area of research. That period (particularly in America) saw a real flourishing of 'sisterhood' amongst early feminist women. The 'cult of domesticity' and 'true womanhood' included a veneration of motherhood, that became a really useful vehicle for political/social agitation. It started as something potentially quite oppressive (all part of the separation of male and female domains), but the activities of women like the ones mentioned in the artcile show how it could also be a tool for empowerment.
Mothering Sunday, which is the European celebration, and predates Mother's Day by many centuries, was entirely patriarchal and had
none of the elements of empowerment. It's still referred to as Mothering Sunday here, though Mother's Day is what it's called in the shops, but it carries far more of the American style connotations now than it used to.