Mary Temperence Connally (1877-1953) was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Mary Virginia Brown (1850-1927), the daughter of Joseph E. Brown (1821-1894), Georgia's governor during the Civil War, and Elijah Lewis Connally (1837-1930). She attended the West End Academy and Washington Seminary in Atlanta and later served as the first president of the Washington Seminary Alumnae. She was a trustee of the Andrew and Frances Stewart Baptist Good Will Center, Bessie Tift College, and Spelman College. She was involved with the Southern Baptist Historical Society of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Atlanta Women's Organization for the Council of Defense during World War I, the Atlanta Historical Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Atlanta Women's Club, the Atlanta Art Association, the League of Women Voters, the Service Star Legion, and the YWCA. Connally married John Schaffner Spalding (1875-1943) in 1902, and they had five daughters: Mary Brown Spalding (1903–1989), Constance Schaffner Spalding (1906–1997), Frances Connally Spalding (1908–1996), Sally C. Spalding (1910-1988), and Elizabeth Gresham Spalding (1913–1971).