Eleanor Caroline Steele (maiden name: Thompson) was born around 1825 in Anderson County, South Carolina, to Matthew A. Thompson and Arabella Keys. Her father was a farmer who owned $15,000 of real estate and $23,725 of personal property in 1860, including at least 8 enslaved laborers. She grew up in Anderson County, and she married Abner Newton Steele on December 19, 1849. They had at least four children: Richard, born around 1853; Frank, born around 1857; John, born around 1860; and Newton, born around 1862.

 

They moved to Mississippi in the early 1850s and finally settled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, by 1860. Her husband worked as a merchant, and by 1860, they owned $2,875 of personal property. Abner enlisted in the Confederate army in June 1861 and died in the Battle of Glendale on June 30, 1862. By 1870, she was living in West Point, Mississippi, and operating a hotel. She owned $5,000 of real estate and $900 of personal property. She eventually returned to Tuscaloosa, and she died there in July 1906.

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