Mary Ann Hunt was born in Johnson County, Arkansas; she was the first born child of her parents John Austin Hunt and Amanda Jane Caudell Hunt. She grew up on the farm in Johnson County, and at about age 15 she moved with her parents to southwestern Sebastian County, Arkansas, near the town of Hartford. The community there was called West Harmony.
Mary Ann Hunt was about 16 years old when she married William J. Patterson in about 1872; their first child, Isaac Denton Patterson, was born in Sebastian County, Arkansas, in April 1873. William J. Patterson was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1874. Mary Ann's sister Katherine later married John S. Patterson, brother of William J. Patterson.
In 1888 the families of Mary Ann Hunt Patterson and Katherine Hunt Patterson traveled overland and settled at Anson in Jones County, Texas. A year later, William J. Patterson and Mary Ann moved to Roby, Fisher County, where William J. Patterson was pastor at First Baptist Church and later at Highland Home Baptist Church.
Mary Ann Hunt Patterson died at Roby on June 10, 1891. Fisher County Probate Court records give a detailed listing of assets and liabilities and the settlement thereof.
Minor children listed in the records at that time include Isaac Denton Patterson, age 20; Lena Kara Patterson, age 17; Mary Etta Patterson, age 15; James Espy Patterson, age 12, Maria Ethel Patterson, age 9; William Stuart Patterson, age 7; and Amanda Hester Patterson, age 4.
Extensive searches have not found the grave site of Mary Ann Hunt Patterson.
William J. Patterson remarried in 1892 to Roxanna Massey, a widow with children. A year later, the extended family moved to Indian Territory and settled at Hartshorne in the Choctaw Nation where he became pastor of the Baptist Church. John S. Patterson and wife Katherine Hunt Patterson also moved their family to Hartshorne at that time.