Mary Ann was the youngest child of Donald and Mary Macdonald from 18 Tobson. She was only three years of age when her father died and she, her mother and brother, moved in with her paternal grandparents. In 1901 she and her mother had moved into Thule House where she was a pupil-teacher. According to oral tradition Mary Ann and her mother moved to Stornoway to live with her brother Neil, who was a joiner to trade. After Neil's death they both emigrated to Toronto.