When Mary Jane “Polly” Tygert was born in 1810, in Kentucky, United States, her father, Samuel B. Taggart, was 25 and her mother, Annie Jane Bell, was 25. She married George Washington Mahan on 9 February 1832, in Warren, Kentucky, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. She died on 13 February 1860, in Greenville, Muhlenberg, Kentucky, United States, at the age of 50, and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Central City, Muhlenberg, Kentucky, United States.