Mary Bybee (maiden name: Shobe) was born around 1812 in Virginia to Jacob and Mary Shobe. The family moved to Concord, Ohio, in the 1810s, and her father died around 1823. She married Washington Bybee on March 2, 1834, and they had at least six children: Jacob, born around 1835; Allen, born around 1837; Levi, born around 1839; Mary, born around 1844; Lucinda, born around 1847; and Ruda, born around 1858. They moved to Franklin, Indiana, in the early 1840s, and her husband worked as a farmer. By 1850, they owned $2,000 of real estate, and a decade later, they owned $10,000 of real estate and $3,120 of personal property. Her husband died on February 8, 1884, and she passed away in Mentone, Indiana, on August 13, 1888.