Mary Wood was born on October 3, 1835, in Madison County, Illinois, to Joshua and Sarah Wood. Her father was a farmer who owned $4,900 of real estate and $1,500 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Madison County.
She married William Wilson, and they had at least four children: Laura, born around 1870; Frank, born around 1873; William, born around 1873; and Victor, born around 1876. They lived in Fosterburg, Illinois, and her husband worked as a farmer. They moved to Sherman, Kansas, in the late 1800s. Her husband died in January 1911. She applied for a widow’s pension later that month, and she eventually secured one. By 1920, she was living in her son Frank’s household in Sherman. She died on August 8, 1932.