Emily Grimes was born on September 5, 1851, in Indiana to John and Eliza Grimes. Her father was a farmer who owned $1,800 of real estate and $780 of personal property by 1860. They lived in Johnson, Indiana, until the 1850s, when they moved to Whitebreast, Iowa. She married John Callahan on February 3, 1867, and their daughter Mary was born around 1869. Her husband probably died in the late 1860s. She lived in Jackson, Iowa, and she earned a living as a dressmaker. She died on August 9, 1897.