When Margaret Ellen Turnbow was born on 22 June 1866, in Farmington, Graves, Kentucky, United States, her father, Benjamin Riley Turnbow, was 37 and her mother, Martha Ann Jenkins, was 26. She married Benjamin Washington Powers on 22 June 1887, in Palouse, Whitman, Washington, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons. She lived in Whitman, Washington, United States for about 10 years. She died on 16 July 1922, in Palouse, Whitman, Washington, United States, at the age of 56, and was buried in Eden Valley Cemetery, Eden, Whitman, Washington, United States.