Mary Field Parton (1878–1969)

Mary Field Parton was born in 1878 in Cincinnati and raised in Detroit by a strict Protestant father. Later, Mary revolted against her upbringing and attended the University of Michigan. She taught school in Ovid, Michigan for two years and after being influenced by Eugene Debs during a lecture, moved to Chicago where she worked in one of Jane Addams' settlement houses. She began working as a labor reporter around 1908 when she became acquainted with Clarence Darrow. According to Margaret Parton, they had a brief affair and remained life-long friends. The letters between Darrow and Mary Field which are mentioned in Journey Through a Lighted Room are in the Newberry Library in Chicago. Mary Field covered many labor trials, including the McNamara trial in Los Angeles. In 1913 she married Lemuel Parton and in 1915 her daughter Margaret was born. Mary continued to write; between the 1920's and 1940's she wrote fiction and many magazine articles. Her books include a biography of Mother Jones (1928?) and Your Washington (1938). Mary Field Parton died in 1969.