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Now aged seventy-eight, Jones was found guilty of being involved in the crime and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. When a company guard was murdered, Jones was arrested.

During the strike, men employed by the mine-owners, machine-gunned the strikers and their families. In 1908 Jones played a leading role in the mine strike in Paint Creek, West Virginia. Foster, Joe Hill, Frank Little and Ralph Chaplin.Īs a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (also called Wobblies) Jones travelled the country helping workers to form themselves into unions. Debs, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Carlo Tresca, Joseph Ettor, Arturo Giovannitti, William Z. Important leaders of this organization included William Haywood, Daniel De Leon, Eugene V. In 1905 Jones helped to form the radical labour organisation, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Jones, who by the 1890s, was in her sixties, was always affectionately called Mother Jones by the other trade unionists. After the formation of the United Mine Workers Union in 1890, Jones became one of its officials. Her work involved making speeches, recruiting members and organizing soup kitchens and women's auxiliary groups during strikes. Specializing in helping miners in their fight for decent wages, improved working conditions and an end to child labour.

Jones now became a full-time trade union organizer. However, the 1871 Chicago Fire destroyed her home and her business. She decided to move to Chicago where she set up as a seamstress.

In 1867 a yellow fever epidemic swept through Memphis, killing Mary's husband and her four children.

Like her father, Jones held left-wing political views and was an active member of the Iron Molders' Union. In 1861 she married George Jones, an iron molder. Mary's father got into trouble for his political activities and in 1838 decided to move the family to Toronto, Canada.Īfter graduating from high school, Mary became a school teacher and worked in Michigan before settling in Memphis, Tennessee. Mary Harris, the daughter of a Roman Catholic tenant farmer, was born on 1st May, 1830 near Cork, Ireland.