William Hanington (ca. 1759-1838) was one of the first English settlers in Shediac, New Brunswick. He was a businessman, engaged in many commercial activities in the area, a politician and office-holder, and a major landowner in the area. His son, Daniel Hanington (1804-1889), was a politician, and a speaker of the New Brunswick House of Assembly. One of Daniel's sons, Augustus Harvey Hanington, a barrister and attorney in Saint John, married Jane Elizabeth Chase. August and Jane Hanington had three daughters: Edith who married T. Wardelow ; Alice who married A.D. Dewdney and Mabel Louise Hanington (1875-1966), a physician and missionary in China.

Mabel was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and graduated from Saint John High School. She then attended the Trafalgar Institute in Montreal, followed by Trinity Medical College and the Toronto University Medical School, from which she graduated in 1900. She then enrolled in a post graduate course at the New England Hospital for Women and Children, specializing in skin and eye diseases. In 1904, Mabel served as a missionary physician in China under the Church Missionary Society of London, England. After many struggles with disease and ignorance, she became sole physician in charge of Mingteh Hospital for Women and Children at Fukien, China. Mabel lived in China for 14 years and while there became fluent in one of the major dialects of Chinese. During her time in China, her health failed twice and was forced to return home. She kept in touch with developments in China after returning to Saint John.

From 1918 to1935, Mabel Hanington served as Medical Inspector of Schools for Saint John city and county Additionally she organized and served as corresponding secretary for the Mental Hygiene Council of New Brunswick from its inception in 1927 until her retirement. Mabel was also active in the Anglican Church's women's auxiliary.