Elsie Wild was born on January 16, 1869, in Jersey City, New Jersey, probably to Charles Wild and Mary Araminta Scales. Her father died around 1869, and her uncle Edward Cushing adopted her sometime before 1875. They lived in North Providence, Rhoe Island, and Cushing worked as a merchant. Her grandmother, Mary J. Wild, apparently adopted her by the early 1880s and left her a legacy of $2,500. She married Charles G. Munro on December 29, 1898, and their daughter Elsie was born around 1902. They lived in Plainfield, New Jersey, and her husband worked as a photographer. Her husband died on September 3, 1946, and she died around 1955.