When Mary McCormick was born on 31 December 1817, in Uniontown, Fayette, Pennsylvania, United States, her father, Charles McCormick, was 31 and her mother, Elizabeth Irvin, was 27. She married James Griffin Patton on 1 June 1832, in Pennsylvania, United States. They were the parents of at least 8 sons and 3 daughters. She lived in Magnolia, Rock, Wisconsin, United States in 1870 and Spring Valley, Rock, Wisconsin, United States in 1880. She died on 23 April 1907, in Brodhead, Green, Wisconsin, United States, at the age of 89, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Rock, Wisconsin Territory, United States.