She was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on 8 January 1833, the daughter of Charles Danforth, the designer and manufacturer of the first coal-burning locomotive engine.
Mary Danforth married William Ryle of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, reputed to be the largest and wealthiest silk importer in the United States.
Ryle contracted with Henry Bacon, who designed the Lincoln Memorial to build the new city library.
The Danforth Memorial Library is perhaps the most notable and beautiful public buildings in the city of Paterson, New Jersey.
[2][3] Mary Danforth Ryle was so loved by the citizens of Paterson that at the time of her death, the funeral was one of the largest the city had ever seen.