Maria was born into wealthy religious family that had immigrated to Puerto Rico from Spain. She had spent most of her childhood in Puerto Rico where she met her future husband, Francisco Torres, a poor working class man.

He convinced her to move away from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, New York. Against her parents wishes they moved to Brooklyn to begin their new life in The United States. However this resulted in her parents disowning her for marrying a low class man that already had two daughters.