When Leah Purcell was born on 10 December 1789, in Alexandria Township, Hunterdon, New Jersey, United States, her father, John Purcell, was 21 and her mother, Mary Haughawout, was 18. She married William Carfary about 1821, in Warren Township, Somerset, New Jersey, United States. She died on 24 June 1858, in Greenwich Township, Warren, New Jersey, United States, at the age of 68, and was buried in Stewartsville, Warren, New Jersey, United States.