Her maternal grandfather, James Graham Fair, was a United States senator from Nevada who made a large fortune investing in silver mines on the Comstock Lode.

[4] Her parents separated when she was a small girl and she would grow up on Long Island and on the West Coast of the United States where her mother had been born.

In 1930, it was reported that she received permission by the Chief of police of Middletown to carry a pistol after riding breeches were stolen from her.

[6] In May 1946, Frank B. Porter and his son Paul bought the 1,100 acres (450 ha) farm from Vanderbilt for an estimated $200,000 (equivalent to $3,124,915 in 2023).

[8] Later in life, Muriel Vanderbilt Adams owned an 80-acre (320,000 m2) horse farm in Marion County, Florida.