Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) was born in Bow, New Hampshire, and raised in a Calvinist household. The nascent intellectual in Mary rebelled against the concept of radical predestination. Early on her parents attempted to break her strong will; the combination of punishments and repeated bouts of ill health reduced her to near invalidism.

She married but her first husband died after six months, leaving her pregnant. A well educated Yankee girl, she remarried in 1853 and lost contact with her son, who had been farmed out to another family. Seeking relief from constant pain, she sought a magnetic healer, Phineas Quimby, who would be the foundation of her religious beliefs. In 1866, she slipped on ice, injuring her back. She later claimed to have healed herself, this experience becoming the basis of her teachings.