Fannie Wallace Washington Reading was the daughter of Dr. Bailey Washington and his wife, Anna Matilda Lee Washington. Fannie was the eldest of their four children and was born in Washington D.C. In 1856 she married Major Pierson Barton Reading, who was an early pioneer in California. The couple moved back to California after their marriage and had six children. When Pierson died in 1868 Fannie stayed in California, but returned to Alexandria, Virginia in 1871. She never remarried and died in Washington D.C. in 1918.