When Edith May Paxton was born on 16 May 1881, in Kinlough, Huron-Kinloss, Bruce, Ontario, Canada, her father, Robert Paxton, was 28 and her mother, Margaret Dreany, was 25. She married Lon Barber about 1900, in Canada. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 1 daughter. She lived in La Verne, Los Angeles, California, United States in 1935 and Grants Pass Election Precinct 2, Josephine, Oregon, United States in 1940. She died in August 1967, in Pomona, Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 86.