Martha Holliday (maiden name: Robison) was born on February 13, 1812, in Milford Township, Pennsylvania, to Thomas Robison. Her father was a farmer. She married Lazarus Holliday around 1834, and they had at least four children: Mary, born around 1835; Russell, born around 1837; William, born around 1839; and Iowa, born on October 3, 1842. By the early 1840s, they were living in Des Moines, Iowa. They probably moved to Missouri in the 1840s, and her husband died there on July 17, 1846. By 1850, she was living in Fayette, Pennsylvania. She eventually moved to Millerstown, Pennsylvania, and she died there on April 23, 1893.