Martha Adina Gayle was born in the parish of St. Elizabeth in the district of Cambridge on the island of Jamaica on October 22, 1902. According to her birth records, she was the daughter of Olivia and Richard Gayle. On April 16 1924, Martha traveled to the United States of America on board the S.S. Alegria from Port Antonio, Jamaica, landing six days later on April 22nd with her final destination being Brooklyn, New York. Records listed Martha's occupation as a domestic worker and that she was not married.

Having established a good footing in the United States, Martha Gayle was able to accommodate and help her niece Daisy May Parnell, who lived with her in Brooklyn for many decades. Martha was also very helpful to her family in Jamaica with correspondence records indicating that she often helped out in whatever way she could. On April 15, 1947 Martha became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. For the next few decades, Martha lived in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn where she started out renting and eventually owned three apartment buildings at 164 MacDonough Street, 51 MacDonough Street and 285 Macon Street. It was through the rental income those properties provided that Martha was able to transition from domestic work to self-employment as a landlord.

Martha was a very active and longstanding member of the Siloam Presbyterian church as well as a women's missionary group. In the latter years of her life, Martha had several health issues and was in and out of the hospital. Records indicate that she had serious health issues in the year 2000 and at one point was living in a hospice. She passed away in 2000 at approximately 98 years old.