Sarah Ann Kribs was born on December 29, 1853, in Elgin, Illinois, to Paul and Sarah Kribs. Her father was a carpenter who owned $600 of real estate and $700 of personal property by 1860. The family lived in Elgin until the 1860s, when they moved to Trempealeau, Wisconsin. She married Arthur Porter around 1875, and their son George was born around 1879. They lived in Trempealeau, and her husband worked as a grocery merchant. They moved to Grant’s Pass, Oregon, in the early 1880s before settling in Leland, Oregon, sometime before 1900. Her husband worked as a farmer there. She died in Leland on February 23, 1927.