When Mary Elizabeth Thompson was born in May 1860, in Macon, North Carolina, United States, her father, William Alexander Tompson, was 21 and her mother, Minerva Elizabeth McCoy, was 17. She married John Wesley Jones on 31 July 1881, in Oakdale, Morgan, Tennessee, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 2 daughters. She lived in Knox, Tennessee, United States in 1880 and Eagle Creek Township, Lake, Indiana, United States for about 10 years. She died on 18 July 1948, in Lowell, Lake, Indiana, United States, at the age of 88, and was buried in Lowell, Lake, Indiana, United States.