Mary Harris Jones

Jones got married to George Jones, an iron worker and strong union supporter, in 1861 and had four children with him. She lost her husband and all the children to the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1930, she celebrated her self-proclaimed 100th birthday. She was living with her friends Walter and Lillie May Burgess in Adelphi, Maryland, and died in the same year. She is buried in the Union Miners Cemetery, Illinois.

Mother Jones was born as Mary Harris in Cork County, Ireland, to Ellen and Richard Harris. Her father was a farmer and the whole family migrated to Canada during her adolescence to escape the Irish famine of that time.

She spent her formative years studying in Toronto and then moved to Chicago to become a dressmaker. She got married and lived in Memphis with her family there. But in the yellow fever epidemic of 1867, she lost all her family.

After losing her family to yellow fever epidemic, Jones returned back to Chicago to her dressmaking business. But within next 4 years, she lost all her hard earned money, possessions and house to the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.

After practically losing everything, she devoted her life to bigger causes. She supported the labor movement and became a part of the ‘Knights of Labor’ and gave inspiring speeches to the striking workers.

From 1873-1877, Jones actively supported laborers in achieving their demands. She used to travel to various strike sites and instill more passion into their strikes. She helped the coal miners’ strike in Pennsylvania and railroad workers.

After the Haymarket Riot of 1886, ‘Knights of Labor’ started to breakdown and Jones became associated with the ‘United Mine Workers’. During her ‘United Mine Workers’ days, she encouraged strikers to face the militias and strike-breakers with courage.

By 1887, she was called ‘Mother Jones’ by everyone, for her mother like image. She was around 60 years old by this time and worked vigorously to help male workers achieve their motives and encouraged the women to stay at home to look after the children.

Jones strongly opposed abortion and female suffrage. She believed that women should not take an active role in politics or for that matter work in factories and mines because their primary duty is to look after the children at home.

She used to refer to the miners who died in the Battle of Virden in 1898 as ‘her boys’.

The famous quote by Jones is “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living”.

A magazine named after her ‘Mother Jones’ was started in 1970 and became the largest selling underground magazine of the decade.

There is a school named after her in Adelphi, Maryland, where she spent the last few years of her life, ‘Mary Harris “Mother” Jones Elementary School’.