Mary Ann Barnett (maiden name: Jackson) was born on July 19, 1831, in Pike County, Missouri. She married James M. Barnett on August 29, 1861, in Pike County, Ohio. They had 2 children together: Sarah A., born August 2, 1862; and James V., born December 17, 1864. Her husband died from acute diarrhea in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 18, 1865, and she applied for a widow's pension the following year. In 1871, the government awarded her an $8 monthly pension, which officials later backdated to the date of her husband's death. She passed away due to complications of senility in Waverly, Ohio, on July 10, 1935, at the age of 103.