Jones worked as a teacher and dressmaker, but after her husband and four children all died of yellow fever in 1867 and her dress shop was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, she became an organizer for the Knights of Labor and the United Mine Workers union.
Jones traballou como mestra e costureira, mais trala morte do seu home e os seus catro fillos por febre amarela en 1867 e a destrución do seu obradoiro de costura no Grande incendio de Chicago de 1871, comezou a súa labor sindicalista para Knights of Labor e United Mine Workers.