Aunt Molly Jackson

Aunt Molly Jackson (1880 – September 1, 1960) was an influential American folk singer and a union activist. Her full name was Mary Magdalene Garland Stewart Jackson Stamos. Jackson was born in Clay County, Kentucky as the daughter of Oliver Perry Garland and Deborah Robinson. In 1883, her father opened a store in Laurel County selling groceries to miners on credit. When the miners failed to make their payments, he was forced to close it two years... more

Aunt Molly Jackson (1880 – September 1, 1960) was an influential American folk singer and a union activist. Her full name was Mary Magdalene Garland Stewart Jackson Stamos. Jackson was born in Clay County, Kentucky as the daughter of Oliver Perry Garland and Deborah Robinson. In 1883, her father opened a store in Laurel County selling groceries to miners on credit. When the miners failed to make their payments, he was forced to close it two years later to go to work in the coal mines. Her mother died of tuberculosis when she was six years old. Because her family were involved in union activities, Jackson was thrown in jail at the age of ten. She began learning songs from her great-grandmother, Nancy MacMahan, at a young age. In 1894, she married the miner Jim Stewart. She bore two children For the next decade, she worked as a nurse in Clay County before moving to Harlan County in 1908 and a job as a midwife delivering 884 babies. Her husband was killed in a mine accident in 1917 and... less