When Mary Novella Toney was born on 3 November 1898, in Sunshine, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States, her father, Samuel Monroe Toney, was 22 and her mother, Amanda Louise Haynes, was 24. She married Aiden Edley Harrison on 30 May 1915, in Rutherford, North Carolina, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 3 daughters. She lived in Logan Store Township, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States for about 40 years and Bostic, Rutherford, North Carolina, United States in 1989. She died on 1 October 1989, in Rutherford, North Carolina, United States, at the age of 90, and was buried in Rutherford, North Carolina, United States.