A forgotten family photo has revealed the precise location of the original burial site for one of the foremost figures of American history.
The photo depicts the initial grave of Mary “Mother” Jones, the beloved labor crusader of the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries, who was buried in Union Miners Cemetery in Mt. Olive, Illinois, after her death in 1930.
Prior to the discovery of the photo, it was believed that Jones rested in a different spot in the cemetery before being moved to a permanent memorial in 1936. The photo is the only known image of the original burial site of Mother Jones, and experts consider it a significant link in her enduring legacy.
“It’s an incredible find,” said Joann Condellone, a board member of both the Union Miners Cemetery and the Mother Jones Museum in Mt. Olive. “It gives us a valuable piece of history that we didn’t have before.”
The long-overlooked image was discovered among family photos earlier this year by Edward J. Zalisko, a retired Blackburn College biology professor from Carlinville, 20 miles north of Mt. Olive and 60 miles northeast of St. Louis.
Zalisko discussed the photo with an array of historical authorities, including Dr. Ian Hunt, chief of acquisitions at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
“We met for several hours and discussed the details of the photo,” remarked Zalisko. “We completed the formal paperwork to donate the print, but not the photographic rights, which we retain.”
Zalisko believes the photo was taken in the spring or summer of 1931, a few months after the burial of Mother Jones on Dec. 8, 1930.
By comparing photographs of the current grave markers in the cemetery to those in the 1931 photograph, Zalisko was able to determine the precise location of the Mother Jones grave, which was previously unknown.
Zalisko has a long family association with unions. “The four grandfathers I have known, all U.S. immigrants, were union members,” said Zalisko.
One was John Kozlowsky, better known as “Pop,” who lived next door to Zalisko as he grew up in East Peoria. Kozlowsky was a union electrician at CILCO in East Peoria, and the family photographer. Zalisko believes that he was responsible for the Mother Jones grave photo, which reflects his family’s reverence for her.
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Union Miners Cemetery, the only union-owned cemetery in the nation, was founded 11 months after a bloody exchange between striking miners and mine guards in Virden on Oct. 12, 1898.
The exchange, which became known as the “Battle of Virden,” left eight miners and five guards dead. It is considered a watershed moment in the labor movement both in Illinois and nationwide. Three of the miners are now buried in Union Miners Cemetery.
In a 1923 letter, Mother Jones declared her wish, upon her death, to “sleep under the clay with those brave boys” from the battle of Virden.
Mother Jones died on Nov. 30, 1930, at age 93. Her funeral was held in Mt. Olive and crowds estimated as high as 40,000 attended the ceremony, which was front-page news in many papers nationwide.
She was laid to rest in a simple grave at Union Miners Cemetery, marked by a small pink-granite headstone with distinctive curved decor. The original headstone is clearly visible in the Zalisko photo.
Eventually, the Progressive Miners of America collected $16,000 to pay for the 22-foot, 80-ton memorial that dominates the cemetery today. On July 24, 1936, Mother Jones’ casket was exhumed from the original grave and moved approximately 90 feet to the site of the new monument, her final resting place.
The dedication was held on Oct. 11, 1936, in front of an immense crowd of 50,000, nearly 17 times the population of Mt. Olive itself at the time. The pink granite headstone from the original grave was transferred to the front of the new monument.
Based on its clarity, the Zalisko photo confirms that the stone at the new monument is the same one that served as the headstone of the initial burial site.
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The original gravesite then faded from memory, and its precise location was not known until the discovery of the Zalisko family photo. It was previously believed that Jones’ first grave was a few feet away.
“We used an oral history, as well as every archival photo we could find,” said Condellone. “We looked at landmarks, the road near the grave, and other grave markers that were there at the time. We paced it off, and walked it repeatedly, as best we could.
“But none of those photographs had the precision view that Ed’s photo has,” she continued. And he generously shared it with us. We’re thrilled about it.”
A new memorial, sponsored by Zalisko, is being planned at the original grave, to accurately denote where Mother Jones first rested in the cemetery. The tentative dedication for the memorial, which will include a reproduction of Zalisko’s photo, is on May Day of next year.
“Those who visit the cemetery will see this great 1936 monument to Mother Jones, to union leadership, and to the sacrifices and struggles of the women, men, and children who suffered, and still fight, for the great worthy cause of unions,” concluded Zalisko. “But now, they can also see that Mother Jones not only wished to join her boys, but wished to share their humble graves.”
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.
