Mary Docherty was born in Ireland, in the county of Donegal, on the evidence of the 1851 census, which gives her age as 64. This conflicts with the 1841 census, which gives her age as 45. The lower figure seems the more credible, since she had a seven-year-old son at that time.

In 1851, she was living at 22, Newton Street, Paisley, with husband James Barr and son Neil. Entries for the births of three of her sons in the Kilchoman Parish Register favour the spelling ‘Dougherty’.

Her son Hugh Barr’s 1886 application for poor relief narrates that Mary had ‘died 33 years ago in Paisley’, i.e. c. 1853.

Mary was again stated to be deceased on Hugh’s death certificate, also 1886. The same information was confirmed on the death certificate of her son, William, in 1887.