Mary E. Leaman was born on October 18, 1836, in Pennsylvania to Henry and Catharine Leaman. Her father was a farmer who owned $27,000 of real estate and $1,960 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Paradise, Pennsylvania. She apparently never married, and she lived with her parents until they died. By 1900, she was living with her brother William in Paradise. A decade later, she was living with Lydia Esbenshade, who census enumerators listed as her “companion.” She was a member of the Paradise Presbyterian Church. She died in Paradise on March 6, 1918.