Friday's Labor Folklore
Con Carbon, the Minstrel of the Mine Patch
Mother Jones' 100th Birthday Party
May 1, 1930 
In 1928 Mother Jones decided to live with Walter and Lillian Burgess owners of a small secluded truck farm in rural Maryland, six miles north of the DC city line.
Lillian Burgess met Mother Jones at the home of Terence Powderly on 5th Street & Rock Creek Church Road in Washington, DC. Emma and Terrence Powderly "treated me as one of the family, just as they did Mother Jones." When Terrence died (1924) "Mother felt more and more alone and those of us who had come to love her as our own were deeply concerned." Lillie May - as she was called - later recalled the "one good deed" in her life was perhaps that she "was able to make the last days of a great woman a little more comfortable, cheerful and happy." She wrote her memoirs in 1938 describing her friendship with "Labor's Joan of Arc."
Relaxing are Mr. Burgess, Mother Jones and Burt Fowler, the Burgess' nephew. In 1980 I met Burt Fowler who was still living on Powder Mill Road; he told me "I parked cars at Mother Jones' birthday party."
(the editor.)
With a spirit strong and fearless
She hated that which was wrong
She never gave up fighting
Until her breath was gone.

sung by Gene Autry.
Mother's birthday cake was baked by Fred Bertram, a member of the Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union, Local 118. Affixed to the first layer was a union label.
Mother Jones died on November 30, 1930 at the Burgess' home. She was buried in Mt. Olive, Illinois' Union Miners Cemetery; in 1932 Walter Burgess died. Lillie May opened the Mother Jones Rest Home "for convalescents." She operated the home from 1932 to the late 1940s. In 1952 she sold the property to the Hillandale Baptist Church.
The Maryland Historical Trust placed a marker at the site of the Burgess Farm in Adelphi, Md. On December 2, 2000 a public dedication was held sponsored by the United Mine Workers of America, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the National Labor College, the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO.
In 2003 the Prince Georges' County Board of Education opened the newly-built Mary Harris "Mother" Jones Elementary School in Adelphi - a short distance from where the Burgess Farm once stood. Most of the students there are the children of recently-arrived immigrants from Latin America. Richard Trumka, a former coal miner and, at the time, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO spoke at the dedication. The inspiring dedication film has been preserved, thanks to the efforts of the George Meany Labor Archive at the University of Maryland. Click here.
On May 1, 1930 Walter and Lillian Burgess' home in what is now Adelphi, Maryland became the center of world-wide interest when Mother Jones celebrated her 100th birthday. Ms. Burgess, Mother Jones' friend and caregiver, conferred with Dr. Howlett of Silver Spring, who tended to Mother up until her death on Nov. 30, 1930. 
 
"The biggest worry we had was about letting Mother go downstairs on the day of the party. She had insisted that she would do so, despite the fact that she was weak and not left her bed for months except to sit up in a chair for a few minutes."

As May 1st approached hundreds of letters and telegrams poured into the Burgess home from union leaders and admirers from around the country. Nearby towns donated bunting for the occasion and the Soldiers Home band from Washington arrived early to perform. They entertained guests playing Irish and American melodies.

Lillian helped Mother dress for the party and began to pin a corsage on her when Mother cried out, "take that damned thing off! I never did adorn myself with flowers, and I don't intend to now either."  

Assisted by Mr. Burgess, Mother Jones made her way through a vast throng of guests to a chair on the front lawn under an apple tree. On a table next to her were 100 candles on a 50 pound birthday cake provided by the Building Trades Council of Washington, DC. Reporters in attendance estimated the crowd by the end of the day to have been over 1,000 people.

At one point during the party, a newsreel team from the Paramount movie company filmed Mother Jones who made a brief statement. This film contains the only known audio and moving image of Mother Jones in existence. (Click here.)

Sitting "as if a queen, yet with the heart of a peasant," Mother Jones greeted her many guests; at one point she remarked that she was disappointed at not hearing word from Gov. Young of California on her appeal to free Tom Mooney -- unjustly imprisoned for his alleged participation in San Francisco's Preparedness Parade bombing in 1916.  

The most newsworthy birthday message came from her old foe, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. "Please accept my heartiest congratulations on your one hundredth birthday anniversary," he wrote. "Your loyalty to your ideals, your fearless adherence to your duty as you have seen it, is an inspiration to all who have known you. "

"Well," Mother commented, "he's a damned good sport anyway. We
surely had some bitter battles.
But it was kind of him to remember me, but hell, I can't do him or anyone any harm for I'm out of the running now."

About this Mother Jones was wrong. Even at one hundred, her words could still inspire those at the birthday party and those in the generations to come.
  
And I long to see the day when Labor will have the destiny of the nation in her own hands and she will stand a united force and show the world what the workers can do. (from the newsreel.)

Note: Mary Harris, an immigrant, was born in Cork, Ireland. According to the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival she was born in Cork city in late July 1837 and was baptized on August 1, 1837 by Father John O’ Mahony in the local Cathedral of St. Mary and St. Anne. Later in life, Mother Jones claimed her birthday to be May 1, 1830. It wasn't until about 2001 that the exact date of her baptism came to light. (Thanks to the efforts of labor historian Elliot Gorn in Mother Jones, the Most Dangerous Woman in America.)

This article appeared in conjunction with the essay "Mother Jones' Final Sojourn : My Search for the House Where 'the Miners' Angel' Died" by Saul Schniderman (Labor's Heritage, Fall 2000/Winter 2001, George Meany Center for Labor Studies, Silver Spring, Md.) Much admiration and credit goes to Bob Reynolds, former editor of Labor's Heritage. Also see Talkin' Union, issue no. 2, Aug. 1981. Lillie May Burgess' unpublished manuscript is at the West Virginia & Regional History Collection, West Virginia University Libraries.

Much thanks to photojournalist Craig Simpson, Washington Area Spark and to Rosemary Feurer, Mother Jones Heritage Project.
"Before daylight, telegraph messenger boys began arriving with messages of congratulations from all over the country. Their automobiles and motorcycles awoke Mother Jones and she complained of the disturbance."

"Letters also came by air mail, special delivery and messenger from the middle of April to long after the birthday, they arrived at the rate of anywhere from 25 to hundreds a day."

"The state road from the National Capital was under construction but the county road commissioner had speeded up repairs so that traffic could move over the thoroughfare. County policemen were detailed to help handle the traffic."

"Mother was asked is she wanted some punch and cake. "No," she replied, "give us some ham and potatoes!"

"Late in the afternoon a long line of marchers was seen coming up the road from Washington. There were young men, old men and the middle aged. They had organized a chorus and 40 strong male voices were leading in song. It was the Army of the Unemployed led by Dan O'Brien. Mother had a cheery word for each and their visit provided a fitting climax to a special day."

-- excerpts from Lillie May Burgess, typescript memoir, "Mother Jones : the Life Story of the Irish Immigrant Girl Who Became the Most Unique Character in the American Labor Movement. Living Past 100 Years."
The Mother Jones Heritage Project is working to erect a statue of Mother Jones in Chicago. You can help by making a tax-deductible donation to the Mother Jones Statue Campaign here.