When Mayetta Pearl Ellison was born on 3 March 1883, in Blount, Alabama, United States, her father, Frances Turner Ellison, was 32 and her mother, Winnie Bagwell, was 39. She married Richard Riley Odum on 19 April 1903, in Blount, Alabama, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 4 daughters. She lived in Beat 2, Lamar, Mississippi, United States in 1930 and Beat 1, Lamar, Mississippi, United States in 1940. She died on 19 February 1964, in Forrest, Attala, Mississippi, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Coal Town Cemetery, Purvis, Lamar, Mississippi, United States.