Mary Harris was born in Cork city in 1837. After seeing the devastating effects of the Famine, her family joined her father in Toronto in 1851, 4 years after her father had gone there to work as a railroad labourer.
Mary went to school to become a teacher. She married George Jones in 1861 and they settled in Memphis and had 4 children together. George was a member of an iron workers union, who’s help Mary would not forget when tragedy struck in 1867 the form of a yellow fever epidemic which claimed the lives of her husband and her children.
In an effort to persevere, Mary moved to Chicago to become a dressmaker, but tragedy would strike again. This time Mary would lose her home, dress shop and savings in The Great Fire of 1871. She participated in the rebuilding of the City and joined the Knights of Labour and the Socialist Labor Party. She would often give speeches to help the workers and this inspired them to call her “mother”.
In 1893 when depression hit the US, Mary helped organise the march of unemployment army from Chicago to Washington, DC. She also helped establish the industrial workers of the world in 1905. When she was 82, Mary was arrested for her part in a strike in West Virginia that turned violent and she was sentenced to 20 years. Her supporters rallied and got the governor to pardon her.
When asked the question once where she lived, Mother Jones said “wherever there is a fight”. Her 100th birthday was celebrated with special labor events across the country and Mother Jones died later that year.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1837 | VIEW SOURCE |
| Date of Death | 1st Jan 1930 | VIEW SOURCE |
| Spouse (First Name/s and Maiden/Surname) | George Jones | VIEW SOURCE |
| Occupation | Union Activist | |
| New Type | Miners Cemetery, Mt. Olive, Illinois | |
