Mary Sachs was a Russian-born immigrant who was only four years old when she came to America in 1892 with her mother, Fanny Rhoads Sachs, and two siblings, Sarah and Emma. The family found husband and father Wolf Sachs in Renovo, a town in the lumber and coal region of northern Pennsylvania. Wolf Sachs was a peddler and shop owner who had immigrated four years before the rest of his family. Around 1900, the Sachs family moved to Baltimore where Lena, Esther, Morris, Yetta, and Hannah were born.
After spending a short time in Baltimore, Mary Sachs moved to Steelton where she worked first in a candy shop and then in an installment store where she was promoted and eventually made manager. After several moves, the rest of the Sachs family joined her in the Harrisburg area around 1916.