Jones, Mary (1830-1930)

Irish-born US labour leader who, beginning in the 1890s, organized coal miners and strikes for the United Mine Workers in Virginia, West Virginia, and Colorado. Known for her bold tactics, she fought on for decades; at the age of 89 she joined in a major steel walkout, earning a prison term.

She was born near Cork. Emigrating to Canada and then the USA as a child, she was widowed in 1867 when her husband, and four children, died of yellow fever. She lost her home in the Chicago fire of 1871. She resumed earlier work as a dressmaker, and worked with the Knights of Labor as an organizer. In the 1960s a socially conscious periodical, Mother Jones Magazine, was named after her.