Albert Rhett Elmore was born on October 23, 1843, in Charleston, South Carolina, to Franklin and Harriet Elmore. His father was a bank president and a United States senator. His father died on May 29, 1850. He grew up and attended school in Columbia, South Carolina, and he enrolled at South Carolina College in the early 1860s.
He enlisted in the Confederate army on July 17, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company D of Hampton’s Legion. In early 1862, army officials transferred him to the 7th South Carolina Infantry Battalion. The regiment served in coastal South Carolina, and he was promoted to sergeant major in May 1862. In the summer of 1863, he joined the 4th South Carolina Cavalry. The regiment took part in the Carolinas campaign. He served until at least October 1864.
He settled in Chester County, South Carolina, after the war. He married Alexina Taylor on June 16, 1868, and they had at least five children: Franklin, born around 1869; William, born on June 9, 1873; Grace, born around 1875; Alexina, born around 1877; and Thomas, born around 1880. They moved to Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, in the late 1860s, and he earned a living as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $1,600 of personal property.
They moved to Alachua County, Florida, in the 1870s, and by 1900, they were living in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1910, a newspaper editor described him as “one of the best known and most popular men in the state.” He died in Jacksonville on March 11, 1915.