When Mary Edith Mead was born on 19 February 1874, in Montezuma, Poweshiek, Iowa, United States, her father, Eli Redman Meade, was 29 and her mother, Ruth Ann Ford, was 24. She married John R. Ford on 19 February 1894, in Marshall, Iowa, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. She lived in Heyburn, Lincoln, Idaho, United States in 1910 and Paul, Minidoka, Idaho, United States for about 10 years. She died on 30 November 1957, in Rupert, Minidoka, Idaho, United States, at the age of 83, and was buried in Paul, Minidoka, Idaho, United States.