Caroline Atkinson (maiden name: Wright) was born on March 26, 1840, in Warsaw, Missouri. She married Patrick Henry Atkinson while they were both enslaved, and on July 29, 1866, they were legally married in a civil ceremony. Together, they had two children: Patrick Henry, born around 1864; and Rose Lee, born November 23, 1866. Her husband died on November 11, 1913, and she began receiving a pension of $50 per month in 1926. Atkinson died of chronic interstitial nephritis in Kansas City on January 16, 1946. She was 105 at the time of her death.