Mary Ann "Mayme" Burns was born on November 27, 1909 to William J. Burns and his wife, Mary Ford, of Menallen, near Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Mary Burns died of pneumonia on January 1, 1919. In the 1920 census, Mr. Burns, Coal Mine Foreman at Taylor Coal and Coke Company, lived with his two children, Mary, 10, and Joseph, 4.

By 1930, Mr. Burns had remarried and had 9 year old twins, Catherine and John. At that time, "Mayme Burns" was listed as a student nurse at St. Francis Hospital.

At the time of the 1940 census, Harry J. Jordan, 34, a Medical Doctor in Private Practice, and his wife, Mary Ann, 29, lived on Grant Avenue, in Millvale, Allegheny County. Their children were Harry, age 6, and William, 2.