Mary Lisha was the orphaned daughter of James Pierson (1802-1845) and his wife Mary (Anna) (1802-1845), who were Irish (or English) immigrants to New Orleans. In some censuses, for example in 1910, Mary says her parents were born in England; in others she says her father was English and mother Irish. Almost every census that includes Mary Lisha is rife with errors; the 1910 census, for example, says Mary was b. in LA; the 1860 census says she was b. in Ireland, and so on. Family story says that Mary's parents died of yellow fever, which is possible (but I have not verified it).

Records agree that Mary and her siblings were born in Ireland. Mary had three siblings: Hugh (1843-1911), James (may have d. 1862 in the Battle of Shiloh), and Francis. Hugh, a Civil War veteran, became a well-known dentist in New Orleans; his obituary states he immigrated from Ireland when he was 10, though he actually must have been an infant or very small child when he arrived. The brother Franic has been hard to document but may have been the Francis Scipio Pierson who served for LA in the war as a First Lieutenant in Capt. Kean's Battery (Orleans Independent Artillery). Hugh was a Private inn Co. D, Crescent Regiment, Louisiana Infantry.

Before 1860, Mary Lisha came to live with Thomas and his first wife Martha to help raise their family. Martha died in 1861 and Thomas married Mary in 1862. Thomas and Mary had thirteen children between 1863 and 1884: Cora Virginia, Thomas James, Emily, Mary Ada, Nettie Jemima, Dicey Cross, a son who died at birth (in 1873), Julia C, Alma, Stella Eugenia, Mary Ella (May), George Washington, and Jesse Mathews.

A widow at the time of the 1900 census, she remained on the family estate as head and "landlord," living with six of her children, one of whom, Stella, worked as a school teacher. She was still head of the farming household in 1910, living with her 23 year old son Jesse, who worked as a retail merchant at a general store, and her granddaughter Eva Allen age 19, as well as resident farm workers. That census indicates that Mary had given birth to 13 children, 10 of whom were still living (Julia C., Alma, and an infant son b. in 1873 were not living in 1910).

In 1920, Mary lived with her son George, who headed the household, and his widowed sister Emily Allen Covington and her son Otto. In 1930, at age 86, Mary had returned to the status of head of household; her son George and her son Thomas, his wife Julia lived with her. and Thomas ran the farm. Mary died less than two years later, after a vigorous and eventful life.