Who's Your Mama? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mary Jones

Mary Harris Jones, aka Mother Jones, was born in Cork, Ireland, grew up in Ontario and then moved to the United States. In 1867, her husband and 4 children died in a yellow fever epidemic. She moved to Chicago where she lost all of her belongings in 1871 during a little fire that occurred there. After this, she became quite active in the labor movement, once being labeled by the U.S. Senate as "the grandmother of all agitators". She organized the International Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905. She fought to abolish child labor. While working with coal miners, she became known as the "miners' angel". Ms. Jones called them "her boys". The miners called her "Mother Jones". Mother Jones magazine is still being published today advertised as "... your home for investigative news, politics, commentary, analysis and hellraising".

Catherine Zeta Jones is an actor, appearing in such films as "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) and "Chicago" (2002). Star Jones appeared on the talk show, "The View" from 2000-2006. Jennifer Jones, also an actor, appeared in such films as "The Song of Bernadette" (1943) and "Duel in the Sun" (1946).

Answer: MADD

Candy Lightner not only experienced the death of her daughter, Cari, at the age of thirteen at the hands of a drunk driver, but also alcohol related incidents with her other children. When Cari and her twin sister, Serena, were 18 months of age, the car they were riding in was rear-ended by a drunk driver. Candy's son, Travis, at the age of four, was hit by an unlicensed driver who was incapacitated due to tranquilizer use. Travis suffered permanent brain damage; the driver was not ticketed.

While walking down a quiet street, Cari was hit from behind by Clarence William Busch. Her body was thrown 125 feet. Her shoes flew off from the impact. Her body was so damaged that none of her organs were able to be harvested for transplantation. Clarence William Busch had four previous drunk driving convictions for which he served a maximum of 48 hours in prison. Two days before hitting Cari, he had been arrested for a hit and run accident.

Outraged by what Candy has called "the only socially accepted form of homicide," she started the volunteer group known as Mothers Against Drunk Driving or MADD. She worked tirelessly to educate people about the dangers of drunk driving and to promote stricter jail sentences for people convicted of drunk driving. The group successfully lobbied the US Congress in 1984 to raise the national drinking age from 18 to 21. Candy left MADD in 1985 as she felt the members were becoming more involved in trying to prohibit alcohol instead of concentrating on the problem of drivers who drink. As she once stated about Clarence Williams Busch, "He is barred from owning a handgun but he can own a car".

SPCA is the Society to for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, FDIC is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Answer: Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford adopted five children. While married to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Franchot Tone, she tried to have children of her own. There were several miscarriages and rumors of abortions. There was also speculation that Joan was too vain to go through a pregnancy. She adopted Christina first, the author of the book "Mommie Dearest". Christopher I came next, but his birth mother wanted him back. The birth mother eventually sold Christopher for $250.00. Joan then adopted a third child, Christopher II. Finally, she adopted twin girls, Candy and Cynthia. Joan Crawford died in 1977. Christina's book was published in 1978 and the movie followed in 1981. In the ensuing years, there has been much speculation about the veracity of the book. Of course, Joan cannot defend herself from the grave but all of her children have led extremely depressing lives with numerous divorces and early deaths. I don't know if bad parenting has ever been correlated to miserable adult lives but I feel that there is probably a connection somewhere.

Bette Davis had two adopted children, Michael and Margo. Elizabeth Taylor had two sons, Michael and Christopher, one daughter, Elizabeth Francis Todd and one adopted daughter, Maria Burton. Loretta Young had a child with Clark Gable, Judy Lewis. She had two sons, Peter and Christopher Lewis.

Answer: No one that we know

Most of us remember Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes including "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Hickory Dickory Dock", "Three Blind Mice" and "Humpty Dumpty". Pre-school children learn, through nursery rhymes, their first awareness of language. The rhymes also help to strengthen memory skills.

Isaac Goose was a real person who lived in Boston, MA. Eleanor Early, a writer in the 1930s and 40s, wrote that Isaac's wife, Elizabeth Foster Goose (1665-1758) was the REAL Mother Goose. After all they lived on Pudding Lane (now Devonshire Street) and when Elizabeth married Isaac, she already had 6 children to add to his 10, making the entertainment of children a necessity. Most people do not believe this account to be true, although if you tour Boston, the real Mother Goose's home may be pointed out to you.

Katherine Elwes Thomas wrote a book entitled, "Real Personages of Mother Goose" (1930). Her theory, which stated that the wife of King Richard II of France was the real Mother Goose, was based on ancient stories and folklore. Iona Archibald Opie, a noted folklorist, wrote in her book, "Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes" (1950) that Katherine Thomas's hypothesis was incorrect.

The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson collected folktales and were responsible for writing many of these stories down, some for the first time.

Answer: Joseph Jr., John, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert, Jean, Edward

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in 1890 and died at the age of 104 in 1995. She married Joseph Patrick Kennedy in 1914 and endured his numerous extra marital affairs. Rose was an extremely religious person throughout her life. In 1951, she received the noble papal title of countess from Pope Pius XII for "her exemplary motherhood and many charitable works".

Joseph, Jr. and Kathleen were both killed in airplane crashes. John and Robert were both assassinated. Rosemary, who was developmentally delayed, passed of natural causes in 2005. Patricia died in 2006 followed by Eunice in 2009. The youngest, Edward, died on August 25, 2009.

Answer: Sarah Bush Johnston

When Sarah Bush married Thomas Lincoln in 1819, she became stepmother to Abraham and his older sister, Sarah. She also had three children of her own. As Thomas had embellished about his home to Sarah before they married, Sarah was in shock when she first saw the half finished abode with no windows, no door and no floor.

She was also horrified to see how neglected Abraham and Sarah had been by their father. Both were ill fed, uneducated and badly treated by Thomas. But Sarah being a woman of "high principle, genuine intelligence and good sense" helped to bring order to the chaos. Once the children, including Abraham, wore decent clothing, they were then able to attend school, something that was a first for the two Lincoln stepchildren. Abraham soon called Sarah "mother" and continued to support her financially throughout his life. Sarah lived through the assassination of Lincoln and died herself in 1869. She is buried next to Thomas Lincoln in Shiloh Cemetery in Lerna, Illinois.

Katherine Parr was the sixth wife of Henry VIII and was stepmother to his three children, Mary, Elizabeth and Edward. Anne Moynet was stepmother to James John Audubon and Jennie Dunlap was stepmother to Clark Gable.

Answer: Princess of Wales

Lady Diana Frances Spencer was born in 1961, married Charles, Prince of Wales in 1981, divorced him in 1996 and died in 1997. She had two children, Prince William born in 1982 and Prince Henry born in 1984. Besides being a caring and involved mother Diana, Princess of Wales, worked with numerous charities. She campaigned vigorously against landmines; the campaign she worked for won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 after her death. Diana also worked with patients who had HIV and leprosy. She labored on behalf of drug addicts and the homeless. She lent her name to the cause of palliative care, which allows for terminally ill people to die with dignity.

Princess Beatrice of York is the oldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, is the late younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. Princess Jasmine is a fictional character from "Aladdin".

Answer: To have a "day of rest" for mothers

Anna Jarvis and her mother quarreled and had not reconciled before the latter's death. Perhaps this was the driving force behind Anna to work toward a national day of recognition for mothers and their role in the family. The first bill proposing the establishment of Mother's Day was introduced into the US Congress in 1908. Because of her tremendous efforts, Mother's Day, although not an "official" day yet, was celebrated in 1909 by 46 states and Canada and Mexico. By 1914, the US Congress passed a joint resolution establishing Mother's Day.

As the years passed, Anna became more irritated with the growing commercialization of Mother's Day. She once stated, "I want it (Mother's Day) to be a day of sentiment, not profit". Anna, never having any children of her own, died in 1948.

She is buried next to her mother.

Answer: Nkem Chukwu

In 1998 in Houston, Texas, Nkem Chukwu (29) and her husband, Iykel Louis Udobi (41) became the proud parents of the US's first set of living octuplets (eight babies born from the same mother at the same time), however, one baby did die a week after the birth. The babies were conceived using fertility enhancing drugs. Selective reduction was suggested but Nkem Chukwu refused on religious grounds. The babies altogether weighed 10 pounds at birth. Their birth weight ranged from a mere 10 ounces to a gigantic (!) one pound, 11 ounces. Both Nkem and Iykel are American citizens of Nigerian descent. In 2002, they welcomed another baby to their family.

Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets (six girls, two boys) in 2009 in California; however, she was not the first one to give birth to this number of surviving children. Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to septuplets (seven babies - four boys, three girls) in Des Moines, Iowa in 1997. Both Nadya and Bobbi were given fertility drugs. Elizre Dionne gave birth to quintuplets (five baby girls, all identical) in Canada in 1934 in a farmhouse where there was no running water let alone incubators for the newborns. The once world famous Dionne Quintuplets now number two (Annette and Cecile). Yvonne, Marie and Emilie are deceased.

Answer: Oil on canvas

Anna McNeill Whistler was the subject of this famous painting created in 1871. She sat for the portrait in London. Whistler eventually pawned the painting but it reappeared in 1891 at a museum in Luxembourg. The painting is now displayed at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.