Mother Jones passed away at 11.55pm on Sunday November 30th, 1930. This year marks the ninety third anniversary of her death. The death certificate stated it was due to senility. She was ninety three years old. A requiem mass was held for her at St Gabriel’s Church in Washington on the morning of December 3rd.
Mother Jones and friends with a birthday cake on her American birthday 1st May 1930. She had claimed to be one hundred years old, in reality, Mother Jones was ninety two at the time. Mother Jones lived on the farm run by Walter and Lillian Burgess at Old Powdermill Road, Hyattsville, near Washington DC, where this birthday party was held. Photo courtesy of Saul Schniderman.
Her remains were taken by railroad car to St. Louis Union Station and then the 40 miles onwards to Mount Olive. A band played “Nearer, My God, to Thee” as thousands of people awaited the transfer of her coffin to the Odd Fellows’ Hall. It lay in state until the memorial service on Sunday during which many thousands of workers, union officials and the curious filed past.
Thousands of union miners march in Mt Olive at the funeral of Mother Jones (Illinois Labor History Society).
The Ascension Church was packed for Fr John Maguire’s eulogy at 2pm, with thousands of miners gathered outside, packing the nearby streets listening on loudspeakers. On the morning of Monday, December 8th after 10:00 am Mass, her casket was then taken to Mount Olive Miners cemetery to her final resting place.
Union leaders carry the coffin of Mother Jones,
Old photos show an enormous gathering of people covering the large graveyard. Motion picture cameras record the huge funeral throngs.
Fr Maguire’s tribute opened with;
“today in gorgeous mahogany furnished and carefully guarded offices in distant capitals, wealthy mine owners and capitalists are breathing sighs of relief.
Today upon the plains of Illinois, the hillsides and valleys of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, in California, Colorado and British Columbia, strong men and toil worn women are weeping tears of bitter grief.
The reasons……….are the same. Mother Jones is dead.”
Fr. Maguire tribute.
It was hard to imagine that this frail Cork women was once branded as “the most dangerous woman in America”.
Thousands gather outside the Ascension Church, Mt Olive, Illinois.
A Mother Jones Birthday party will take place on Sunday 30th April from 3 – 5 pm at the Irish American Heritage Centre in Chicago.
It will feature Liz Carroll, (fiddle), Brendan and Siobhan Mc Kinney (pipes and Flute), Kathy Cowan, vocalist and Mother Jones, Brigid Duffy. In attendance also will be Sarah Keating, Vice Consul of Ireland in Chicago.
Karen White of the NEA. (Source: Mother Jones Heritage).Kathy Cowan. (Source: Mother Jones Heritage)
Karen White of the National Education Association will speak to issues of the exploitation of children on this the 120th Anniversary of the march of the Mill Children led by Mother Jones in 1903.
Fundraising is proceeding for the erection of the new Mother Jones Monument in Chicago.
Meanwhile about 250 miles further south in the town of Mt. Olive, the burial place of Mother Jones an International Mother Jones Festival takes place also on Sunday 30th April. It will be held at the Union Miners Cemetery beginning at 12 noon and continuing afterwards at the Mother Jones Museum on Main Street.
Speakers and artists include the Consul-General of Ireland in Chicago, Kevin Byrne. Tim Drea, President of the Illinois AFL/CIO and Brother Jerome Lewnard of the Viatorian Order. Music will be provided by Wildflower Conspiracy along with a number of other bands. Loretta Williams will participate as Mother Jones and historian, Dale Hawkins will also take part.
Further details call 618-659-8759.
Congratulations to all involved and best wishes from Cork for the May Day American Birthday celebrations for Mother Jones.
Note: The American celebrations have traditionally taken place around May Day which was the day, Mother Jones gave as her birthday, however her real birth date was probably 31st July 1837 as she was baptised at the North Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Anne in Cork on the 1st August of that year.
Credit: Consul General of Ireland, Chicago.Credit: Mother Jones Museum, Chicago
Photo 1: Kevin Byrne Consul General of Ireland, Chicago with Tim Drea, President of the AFL-CIO in Illinois at Mount Olive Cemetery on the 30th May 2023.
Photo 2: Rosemary Feurer of the Mother Jones Museum, Chicago making a presentation of a limited edition artwork by Lindsay Hand, “Chicago March 1915” to Karen White, speaker at the May Day Chicago Celebration of Mother Jones.
A commemorative bench honouring the memory of the family of Mother Jones will be unveiled on May Day 2022 at the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive.
The grave of Mary Harris/Mother Jones lies in this unique cemetery, her memory forever immortalised in the large grave monument erected in 1936 to her memory.
Loretta Williams at the Mother Jones Monument.
During the forthcoming Mt. Olive International Mother Jones Festival 2022, the Union Miners Cemetery Perpetual Care Association along with the Illinois AFL-CIO and the UMWA Local 1613 will dedicate a memorial bench to her often forgotten husband George Jones and her children, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine and Terence who died in Memphis during the Yellow Fever epidemic of September 1867.
Entrance to Mt. Olive Cemetery courtesy of Pat Schmeder.
To hear directly from the Mayor of Mt Olive John Skertich and Nelson Grman, a member of the Union Miners Cemetery Perpetual Care Committee, long-time union activist and promoter of Mother Jones please click on the following link.
Every wonder why Mother Jones wished to be buried near “her boys” at the town of Mount Olive, in Southern Illinois in the Union Miners Cemetery, which is located near Route 66 midway between Springfield and St. Louis?
Mother Jones had earlier written to the Miners of Mount Olive on November 12th 1923, seeking
“a resting place in the same clay that shelters the miners who gave up their lives in the hills of Virden, Illinois on the morning of October 12th 1898, for their heroic sacrifice for their fellow men”.
Extract from Mother Jones and the Union Miners Cemetery Mount Olive, Illinois by the Illinois Labor History Society.
Her request was granted.
Grave of Mother Jones, Mount Olive.
The Battle of Virden claimed the lives of four Mount Olive miners and since 1899, October 12th has been celebrated as Miners Day in Illinois at the Union Miners Cemetery.
During the battle, seven miners were killed and forty were wounded. Five mine guards died and four were wounded. The youngest miner killed was Edward Long, just 19 years old from Mount Olive.
Virden Monument. Mother Jones rear centre.
Many activists from the Progressive Miners of America are buried at Mount Olive. Recently the remains of labour singer Anne Feeney, were placed in the cemetery.
To listen to the story of the Battle of Virden, the following is an interesting interview with local resident and historian John Alexander, an Illinois bookstore owner. https://https://youtu.be/8qcBLQL2beg www.buzzsprout.com/1856440/
Our thanks to JASE Media Services in Mount Olive for their kind permission to share this podcast.
90 years ago on Monday 8th December 1930 at 10am, Mother Jones was buried at the Union Cemetery, Mount Olive, Illinois.
Earlier on Sunday afternoon Father John Maguire in his funeral oration at the funeral of Mother Jones.
“Today in gorgeous mahogany furnished and carefully guarded offices in distant capitals, wealthy mine owners and capitalists are breathing sighs of relief. Today among the plains of Illinois, the hillsides and valleys of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, In California, Colorado and British Columbia, strong men and toil worn women are weeping tears of bitter grief. The reason for this contrasting relief and sorrow is the same. Mother Jones is dead!”
Father John Maguire
St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Washington. Among those included at the casket of Mother Jones is William Doak, US Secretary of Labour.
Mother Jones Funeral
Mother Jones Grave: Mount Olive, Illinois
The photos above from the Illinois Labour History Society give an indication of the impressive burial ceremony .
They show the scene outside St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Washington. Among those included at the casket of Mother Jones is William Doak, US Secretary of Labour.
Other photos show the massed ranks of organised labour honouring Mother Jones at Mount Olive
Ambassador Daniel Mulhall at the Mother Jones monument in Mount Olive
Irish Ambassador visits Mother Jones Monument to learn of Cork born Mother Jones
The Irish Ambassador to the United States, Daniel Mulhall has paid a historic visit to the final resting place of Cork born Mother Jones (born Mary Harris in Cork, Ireland in 1837)
Daniel Mulhall, Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States, met with Rosemary Feurer, Northern Illinois University Professor and Director of the Mother Jones Heritage Project on May 4, 2018, at the historic Mother Jones Monument/Union Miners Cemetery in Mt. Olive, Illinois. His mission was to learn more about the history of this renowned figure and the special place where she is buried.
Ambassador Mulhall with Prof. Rosemary Feurer
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, 1837-1930, was born in Cork, Ireland and was once known as the “most dangerous woman in America” as she fought for labor rights.
The meeting was arranged by Ireland’s Consul General to the Midwest, Brian O’Brien, who was present at the Heritage Project’s dedication of a historical marker to Jones in December 2017, southbound I-55 Coalfield Rest area adjacent to historic Route 66. Ambassador Mulhall was in St. Louis, Missouri last week, when a break in his schedule allowed for a trip to this the monument, which is about an hour’s drive from St. Louis.
Ambassador Mulhall was impressed with the personal story of Mary Harris Jones, of her role in United States history. He remarked that he had been unfamiliar with her before, but found her a truly memorable. “It’s hard for us to contemplate the suffering” Mary Harris Jones endured as she experienced the Great Hunger, then further hardships as immigrants in the United States. It’s important to note that she did not give up, he suggested, and seemed to have an “indefatigable spirit.”
Ambassador Mulhall viewing the display boards produced by the Cork Mother Jones Committee
Ed Becker, President of Union Miners Cemetery board gifted Mulhall with the Miners’ Angel CD he produced of Mother Jones songs. Mulhall was truly enthused by the CD, recognizing some of the artists such as Andy Irvine, who performed at the 2012 inaugural Cork Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
Also present at the meeting was Judy Simpson, board member of the Mother Jones Heritage Project, and Kate Klimut, project volunteer. Mike Katchmar, treasurer of the cemetery board, was also present at the meeting.
Ambassador Mulhall and Consul General O’Brien committed to helping the aims of the Heritage Project through the Embassy’s offices. He announced a grant to help fund the Project’s next historical marker on I-55 near Waggoner, Illinois. He also pledged to be present at the dedication of the marker and to promote knowledge of Mother Jones history in the United States through the United States Embassy.
Ambassador Mulhall with local friends of Mother Jones at Mount Olive
Mayor Skertich arranged a visit to the small Mt. Olive Mother Jones Museum. There Mulhall took much interest in the boards currently on display that were from Cork’s Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.
The visit has been watched with great interest by Mother Jones enthusiasts in Ireland. James Nolan of the Cork Mother Jones Committee expressed delight at the visit of the Irish Ambassador to the USA, Mr. Daniel Mulhall to the grave of Mother Jones at the miners’ cemetery in Mount Olive, Illinois on 4th May 2018
“It just again demonstrates the growing acknowledgement by increasing numbers of people of the unique role of Cork woman Mother Jones as a trade union leader over many decades in the USA and her contribution to the rights of workers in America.
She was indeed an extraordinary woman in her day and it is really wonderful to see her life and achievements being acknowledged by the Irish Ambassador, Mr. Mulhall during his visit to her resting place at Mount Olive.”
Ambassador meets “Mother Jones” with Rosemary Feurer
Stated Mr. Nolan.
The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival and summer school will take place in the Shandon Historic Quarter from Wednesday, August 1st to Saturday, August 4th 2018.
The new road marker at I-55 south of Springfield, Illinois. Photo courtesy of Mike Matejka
A commemorative road marker in honour of Cork-born Mother Jones was unveiled near Mount Olive, Illinois on Monday (11 December) in the presence of the Honorary Irish Consul in Chicago, Mr. Brian O’Brien.
Irish Consul General Brian O’Brien (Photo courtesy of Mother Jones Heritage Project MJHP)
The marker itself will be seen by over a million people a year who come to take a break just off the world-famous Route 66. After the ceremony, Mr O’Brien visited the indoor exhibition area at the location. They the group travelled to Mount Olive where Mr. O’Brien placed a wreath at the grave of Mother Jones in the Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive.
The wreath contained the words of her motto “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” in both Irish and English. There then followed a toast to Mother Jones at the grave which was celebrated using Red-Breast Whiskey. Congratulations to everyone involved in this amazing project.
Group at the grave of Mother Jones at Mount Olive. (L-R): Brigid Duffy of Irish American Heritage Center, Mother Jones Performer Amy Rueff of Illinois American Federation of Labor, Rosemary Feurer of Mother Jones Heritage Project and Consul General Brian O’Brien
The Wreath with inscription in English and Irish
Our thanks to Prof. Rosemary Feurer of the Mother Jones Musuem for forwarding photos and other material.
James Goltz lifting the clay from the grave of Mother Jones. (Photo via James Goltz)
As reported from Mount Olive, Illinois by James Goltz
Unique history in the making in Mt. Olive Illinois,at the Union Miners’ Cemetery involving the legendary labour agitator, Mother Harris Jones (Mother Jones), Friends of Mother Jones and Ireland. Mother Jones is buried in the only union owned cemetery in the country, she is the only immigrant who has a so-named festival in her homeland who became a giant in our labour movement, and soon she will be the first to have bit of clay from above her grave transported to her birthplace, the Shandon district in Cork City, Ireland.
Photo shows Secretary of the Mount Olive Perpetual Care Committee Secretary, Mike Krachmar assisting with the placement of the clay in a temporary container. (Photo via James Goltz)
On June 11, Illinois labor activist James Goltz, along with the Perpetual Care Committee of the cemetery held a formal ceremony at her grave site where a bit of clay was removed above her grave. It was given to James Goltz to transport and formally present to the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival organisers in the Shandon Historic Quarter as part of their festival.In addition at the festival, Goltz will also read and present 3 proclamations heralding Mother Jones and the festival from the AFL-CO, the Illinois AFL-CIO and the United Mine Workers of America.
The entrance to the Union Miners Cemetery at Mount Olive, Illinois
Mother Jones monument at the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive, Illinois, USA.
Unique link up between the friends of Mother Jones in Mount Olive, Illinois and the Cork Mother Jones Committee in Shandon.
The Cork Mother Jones Committee is pleased to announce that a U.S. trade union member, James Goltz, has been given permission to bring some clay from the grave of Mother Jones at Mount Olive in the Miners Cemetery in Illinois to the forthcoming Spirit of Mother Jones summer school and festival in Shandon where it will be presented to the Committee.
A formal ceremony is to take place on 11th July at the final resting place of Mother Jones (born Mary Harris in Shandon) in Mount Olive at which a small sample of clay will be removed from the grave, will be permanently sealed and will be given to Mr Goltz for transporting to Ireland.
Mother Jones grave. Photo: James Goltz
“This is a unique and historic act linking Mother Jones and her birthplace on the north side of Cork to her grave at Mount Olive after some 87 years. (She passed away in 1930) We wish to congratulate the friends of Mother Jones in Illinois for their thoughtfulness with their symbolic act of generosity and solidarity”, declared James Nolan, spokesperson for the Cork Mother Jones Committee.
“We hope the sealed container can be placed permanently alongside the memorial plaque to Mother Jones in Shandon with the permission of the Cork City Council”
“The act is a further sign of the growing links and bonds which have been developing over the past six years between the friends of Mother Jones on both sides of the Atlantic, many of whom including James and his family have attended previous Spirit of Mother Jones festivals”
The Mother Jones plaque at Shandon, Cork
The festival and summer school takes place in the Shandon Historic Quarter from Tuesday 1st to Saturday 5th August next.
Please find below the details of the event in Mount Olive on July 11th and the contact details for James Goltz.
“A bit of earth will be removed above the grave of Mary Harris Jones, a.k.a Mother Jones, who lies within Union Miner’s Cemetery in Mt. Olive Illinois, on July 11, at 10:00am, in preparation for a journey to her birthplace in County Cork Ireland to the Shandon district within Cork City. The earth will be presented to the 6th annual Spirit of Mother Jones Festival there on August 1. The cemetery Perpetual Care Committee will be present to assist in performing the brief ceremony and task of gathering the earth with James Goltz, who refers to himself and other Mother Jones fans as, “a Friend of Mother Jones”. When asked why they were doing this, Goltz said, “We wish to send a piece of her essence home. The Spirit of Mother Jones moves us”. All interested parties are encouraged to attend this unique event.”
Sign over entrance to the Union Miners Cemetery, Mt. Olive
Mother Jones grave at the Union Miners Cemetery, Mount Olive, Illinois.
The Mother Jones Monument
Mother Jones Monument rededicated June 20, 2015 Mount Olive, Illinois – the following report of the rededication at Mount Olive Miners Cemetery has been sent to the Cork Mother Jones Committee by Terry Reed , Field Services Director, of the Illinois Federation of Teachers www.ift-aft-org.
In the Union Miner’s cemetery lies the grave of Mary Harris “Mother” Jones. At the foot of a marble monument adorned with bronze statues of two miners and plaques commemorating fallen miners the simple head stone reads “Mother Jones”. On this Saturday in June hundreds of good union men and women gathered together with community folk around the gravesite and monument. They listened to the songs of working men and women sung by Bucky Halker and Chris Vallilo. They listened to speeches from local officials and committee members, Michael Carrigan, President of the Illinois AFL-CIO and other union officials, an Illinois State Senator, an Illinois Congressman and a USA Senator from Illinois. They watched as an actress, Margaret Orner, portrayed Mother Jones and breathed the words once spoken by the daughter of County Cork, Ireland. There was the obligatory prayer by a local clergy man that silenced the crowd as they bowed their heads. The grand finale had all in attendance circling the monument and grave joining hands while singing together the verses of the union anthem “Solidarity Forever”.
Everyone admired the craftsmanship and work of the union hands that brought the 80 year old monument back to its original splendour. The stone and mortar restored, the bronze shiny as new and the once crumbling foundation sturdy and strong. The gate at the entrance to the cemetery proudly displaying “The Resting Place of Real Union People” on its iron face plate looking as smart as it was when first erected. The many colored shirts displaying their union membership, Ironworkers, Steel workers, Electricians, Bricklayers and Stone Masons, Auto Workers, Laborers, Teachers, Government workers, Teamsters, Operating Engineers, Mine Workers, Painters all smiling and congratulating themselves. Proud of their coming together to insure that the monument and grave site will remain for at least another 80 years to be viewed and admired.
But even more than the marble and bronze and iron that make up the monument they came this day to draw sustenance from the spirit and life of Mother Jones. As speaker after speaker so eloquently reminded them this rededication accomplishes nothing if it doesn’t inspire each and every one to draw from the words and actions of the courageous person it honors. Mary Harris “Mother” Jones spoke truth to power. She utilized her speech and pen to attack injustice and backed it up with her actions. She stood fearless before the bosses of Industry, Governors of states, and Judges in their Courtrooms. Even the President of a nation was not above her ire. She faced the guns of her would be oppressors and the jails they tried to use to stop her. And all the time she walked among the working families she championed. Organizing, educating and agitating them to action. It is Mother Jones they came to honor. It is her life lessons they hope to carry on in their battles against austerity and the attacks on the working class and their unions.
The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 