Mary was the second child of Edwin Dilworth Woolley Jr. and Emma Geneva Bentley. She was raised in Kane County and then graduated from the LDS College in Salt Lake City (1891) before returning to Kanab. Mary was elected the first lady County Clerk in the State of Utah in November 1896, on the same ticket as Herber M. Wells first governor of the State of Utah, and William McKinley, President of the United States.
She married Thomas Chamberlain in Mexico in 1900, as his sixth wife and continued to live in Kanab as “Mary Woolley” because the practice of plural marriage was no longer recognized in Utah. In a tribute to Mary, her niece Elsie, wrote, “The circumstances under which she came into the family were not easy for her and would be condemned by some. But to the family, her coming was a blessing. She was another mother, and she became also a wise counselor and a warm friend.” In 1904, Mary moved to Mexico to escape polygamous persecution and lived under the assumed name of “Mary Howard.”
In October 1907, Mary was able to return to Kanab and live with her mother and father. She still went by the name of Howard, and her husband visited frequently and provided for her and their two children. Four years after her return to Kanab she was elected as mayor. Mary publicly acknowledged the Chamberlain name in 1916.
When Thomas Chamberlain died in 1918 Mary supported herself and her two boys by selling homemade bread and cookies to tourists, taking in boarders, and marketing a line of ladies’ hats. In 1922, she moved to Provo and became a successful sales representative for the Shaughnessy Knitting Company, selling their silk knitwear for years.
Mary was captain of the Daughters of Utah Pioneer Camp No. 1. She visited every L.D.S Temple built in her lifetime, and she flew across the Grand Canyon in one of the first planes to make the trip in August 1930. Mary wrote quite a detailed account of her life for her children.
When Mary took office she was 41 yrs. old with two children (ages 7 & 10). She died in 1953 and was buried in Kanab.