Mary was born in 1843 in Baltimore, the second daughter of Irish immigrants - James and Mary C. Clarke. Her father was a grocer and her mother worked as a tailor according to the 1860 Census. James McCart of East Baltimore married Mary Clarke at a Mass and ceremony held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church on January 12, 1862, just months after the American Civil War began. The best man was John H. Colter and the maid of honor was Mary Ann Grimes according to the church marriage register. Soon after Jim volunteered to serve in the Union Army under General Sherman. He remained in the Army until the end of the war in 1865. He returned home to begin a career as a plumber aboard the many ships that came into the Baltimore port. As the country healed from the wounds of war and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Mary gave birth to their first daughter Anastasia (or Annie as they called her) in April 1867. Their second child Charles William was born on January 15, 1868. Charlie was baptized at St. John the Evangelist according to church records and his godparents were Daniel Hayes and his Aunt Hannah Clarke. Their third child Mary Jane was born on February 12, 1870. She was baptized at St. John and her godparents were Michael Thomas Griffin and Mary Jane Hayes. After ten years of marriage James and Mary had their fourth child named Joseph James on February 16, 1872. Joe was born with beautiful red hair. Six years later Mary and Jim had their next daughter Genevieve DeSales (who they called Eva) born in September 1876. Their youngest son Leo (George Leo) was born on March 5, 1879. He was baptized at St. John the Evangelist and his godparents were his cousin John Clarke of Philadelphia and Margaret Brown. Sadly the following year, ten-year-old daughter Mary Jane died and was buried on April 20, 1880 at the old Holy Cross Cemetery. It was here that James purchased a lot for the entire McCart family. At the age of 39, Mary gave birth to her last child on May 31, 1881 and Jim and she named their daughter Mary Alice in memory of the child they had just lost. Jim and Mary continued to raise their family at their home at 1519 E. Madison Street in the Irish immigrant neighborhood of East Baltimore. Mary began to show symptoms of uterine cancer in September of 1888 according to her death certificate. Eighteen months later Mary died at the age of 49 on February 17, 1890 leaving Jim a widower and her children - Eva, Leo, and Mary were underaged and still in need of their mother's care. She was buried in the old Holy Cross Cemetery next to her daughter Mary Jane. Ten years later, a younger niece named Mary Rumnap, a fifteen year old niece from the Clarke side was listed as living with the McCart family at 1519 E. Madison Avenue. She probably was orphaned.