Margaret Haywood (née Henry) was born in 1833 in North Carolina to a wealthy family. She and her siblings were close friends with her cousin, Margaret Eliza Cotten, and they often called on one another in Raleigh. She married in Edward Graham Haywood in April 1853 and had eight known children with him. She died on June 10, 1880 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina.