Harriet Parsons was born around 1843 in New York to Jared and Polly Parsons. Her father was a shoemaker who owned $100 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Newfield, New York, and she married James H. Stanion around 1871. They had four children: George, born around 1873; Ralph, born around 1875; Grace, born around 1878; and Curtis, born around 1880. They lived in Ithaca, New York, and her husband worked as a blacksmith. She died sometime after 1905.