Fannie G. Wood was born around 1856 in Illinois to Hiram and Martha Wood. Her father was a farmer and carpenter who owned $2,500 of real estate and $550 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Golconda, Illinois. She married Samuel W. Hodge on October 2, 1872, and they had at least five children: Olive, born around 1874; Walter, born around 1876; Lucy, born around 1878; Herbert, born around 1880; and Myrtle, born around 1885. They lived in Golconda, and her husband worked as a farmer. By 1880, she was suffering from consumption. She died sometime after 1900.