Mary C. Shibley (maiden name: Coryell) was born on September 3, 1835, in Chemung County, New York, to A. C. and Mary Coryell. Her father was a carpenter who owned $4,000 of real estate by 1850. She grew up and attended school in Catharine, New York. She married Oliver W. Shibley on January 1, 1857, and they had at least two children: Lillian, born around 1858; and Clarence, born around 1861. In May 1865, as Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train passed through Chicago, Illinois, she wrote that his “death is most universally mourned and well it may be for he was a good and noble man…His name will always stand high in the nations history & will find a place in the hearts of his countrymen, with that of Washington.” The family lived in Wyoming, Iowa, and her husband worked as a farmer and butcher. By 1870, they owned $400 of real estate and $200 of personal property. She died on March 25, 1895.