Mary was born on 6 April 1869 just over 3 years after her parents Robert WATKINS and Ellen BURNS were married in Clifton. She had an older sister Ellen, and her parents went on to have more children.
Mary passed away just after her 20th birthday and the local newspaper, the Warwick Argus reported on her death and funeral in their edition of 30 April 1889:
A young woman named Watkins, whose friends, we understand, reside at Darkey Flat, also died at the hospital, the cause of death in this case being fever.
Deceased, who was a member of the Roman Catholic church, belonged to the confraternity of the Holy Family, an order instituted in Warwick during the recent visit of His Grace Archbishop Dunne.
Deceased was the first member of the Family who died, and the sisterhood therefore paid their last respect to the remains of one of their number by marching in regalia behind the hearse to the cemetery.
