Melchora Aquino was born on January 6, 1812, in Barrio Banlat, Caloocan (the present-day Barangay Tandang Sora, Quezon City).

[3] However, she was apparently literate at an early age and talented as a singer and performed at local events as well as at Mass for her Church.

She was also often chosen for the role of Reyna Elena during the "Santacruzan", a processional pageant commemorating Empress Helen's finding of the Cross of Christ, celebrated in the Philippines in May.

[1][4] Later in life, she married Fulgencio Ramos,[1][5] a cabeza de barrio (village chief), and bore six children.

She was held captive in the house of a cabeza de barangay of Pasong Putik, Novaliches and then transferred to Bilibid Prison in Manila.

[1][7] In Guam, she and a woman named Segunda Puentes were placed under house arrest in the residence of a Don Justo Dungca.

[11] These were then transferred to the Himlayang Pilipino Memorial Park in Quezon City in 1970 and finally at the Tandang Sora National Shrine in 2012.