Isabella Crist was born around 1834 in New York to Samuel and Sallie Crist. Her father was a farmer who owned $3,000 of real estate and $600 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Bethel, New York, and by 1860, she was working as a teacher. She married Charles Sutton around 1865, and their daughter Belle was born around 1867. They lived in White Plains, New York, and her husband worked as a carriage builder. She died sometime after 1910.