Mother Jones Mary Harris Jones, known as Mother Jones, was a very powerful labor unionist in the late 1800’s. Jones was born in the city of County Cork, Ireland. She grew up in great poverty, as did her ancestors before her. When the Irish Potato Famine began to affect Jones’s family, they emigrated to the country of Canada. Jones lost her family to a yellow fever outbreak and then her home in the great Chicago fire. Still, she pressed on and became a labor activist. Her beloved followers gave her the name “Mother Jones”. In 1930, Jones died. Early life In The Autobiography of Mother Jones, Jones claims to have been born in 1830.Though, now it is known that she was born in 1837 in County Cork, Ireland. Around the year of 1835, Jones’ father, Richard Harris, and her older brother Richard Jr. emigrated to Toronto, Canada caused by the Irish Potato Famine. After working to become a citizen, the rest of Richard’s family emigrated. Jones began schooling in Toronto at Toronto Normal School. Mother Jones wished to be a teacher and left Toronto for a teaching job in Monroe, Michigan. Mother Mary Joseph hired Mary Harris on August 31, 1859, where she was paid eight …show more content…
The first recorded notice of Mary Jones came from her involvement with Coxey’s Army in 1894. This movement, begun by Jacob Coxey, fought for the government to create more jobs for the unemployed. Mary Jones volunteered to aid men in the movement. When Eugene Debs, a member of the American Railroad Union, was released from imprisonment, Mother Jones constructed a group of supporters for him by many of Birmingham’s workers. Mary Jones followed Socialism as it gained much of its energy from American