Mary Dodson Winfrey (maiden name: Dodson) was born on January 17, 1855, in Spring Hill, Tennessee. She became the fourth wife of John M. Winfrey on October 17, 1887, in Columbus, Kansas. Their son Lewis was born on October 8, 1889. The family briefly lived in Welch, Oklahoma, in the 1890s before returning to Kansas. John died on April 5, 1902, in Chetopa, Kansas. Mary eventually secured a widow's pension, but the pension agency dropped her from its rolls when she married Jake Renfro. After Renfro died in 1923, Mary successfully applied to receive her pension again. She died in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 14, 1940.