Jane Barnhill was the eldest daughter, and the eighth of 12 children of Robert and Sarah Marvis Barnhill. She and her family, and her husband Jeremiah J Corbaley were among the first settlers in Wayne Township, near what is now Indianapolis, Indiana.

In 1804, when Jane was only 6, her family moved from Scott County, Kentucky, where she was born, to Butler County, Ohio. There she grew to adulthood, when she met and married Jeremiah J. Corbaley who had migrated from Maryland and was engaged as a teacher at the time. In March of 1820, she and her young husband, along with all of the Barnhill family again moved to a new state by the name of Indiana where they settled in an area known as the New Purchase.

Indiana had achieved statehood only four years earlier, in 1816. Not two years after that, in 1818, the Delaware tribe had relinquished title to their tribal lands in central Indiana. The ceded lands (called the New Purchase) included the site which, five years hence, would be designated as the state capitol of Indianapolis. The main motivation for the move from Ohio was the opportunity that had opened up in the area to purchase tracts of land in the New Purchase.

Being among the first white settlers in the area, the Barnhills and the young Corbaley's settled along the banks of Fall Creek near its junction with the White River, in what was soon to be designated the county of Marion. There, Jeremiah built a log cabin, and in that cabin, in August of 1820, their first child, Richard was born. Richard had the distinction of being the first white child born in the New Purchase.

An outbreak of malaria took Jane's father along with several other settlers in 1821 just as the city of Indianapolis was being established. This prompted the families to move about nine miles west to an area that was less boggy. It was there, in Wayne Township, Marion County, near Eagle Creek, that the Corbaley's and Barnhill's finally settled and claimed their land.

Jane's husband Jeremiah set to work clearing land and planting the 160 acres that he had acquired, and there, he and Jane raised their family. They had 10 children in all.
Jane's husband died in 1844 and was buried in the Old Union Cemetery in Marion County. Jane lived to be 72 years old and died in 1869. She was buried alongside her husband in the Old Union Cemetery.