When Mary Sanders was born in 1823, in Grainger, Tennessee, United States, her father, Thomas Sanders, was 44 and her mother, Elizabeth Katherine Rook, was 42. She married Abednego Maness in 1847, in McNairy, Tennessee, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 4 daughters. She lived in Liberty Township, Ouachita, Arkansas, United States in 1850 and Ozan Township, Hempstead, Arkansas, United States in 1860. She died in 1860, in Hempstead, Arkansas, United States, at the age of 37, and was buried in Holly Grove Methodist Cemetery, De Ann, Hempstead, Arkansas, United States.