Mary Ann Fruit was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Orange County, North Carolina with her husband Samuel Walker by 1756. There they had several children, several of whom became involved in the Regulator Movement. One daughter, Mary, married James Hunter, one of the movement's leaders. When James Hunter was outlawed for being a Regulator, citizens of Guilford County submitted a petition asking for his pardon. In the petition, they garnered sympathy for Hunter by alluding to his "aged mother Wo has no other Man in the Life." As records suggest that James Hunter's own mother had already died by the time of the petition, they probably referred to his mother-in-law Mary Ann Walker, though she had the support of her husband and several sons. She died sometime after December 1782.