Elizabeth Humphrey (maiden name: Everhart) was born on November 6, 1812, in Zanesville, Ohio, to John Everhart and Rachel Johns. She married Lyman Humphrey in 1836, and they had two children: John, born around 1840; and Lyman, born on July 24, 1844. They lived in Marlboro, Ohio, and her husband worked as a lawyer. By 1850, they owned $400 of real estate. Her husband died in 1853, and she raised her children on her own. She moved to Missouri around 1866 and then to Independence, Kansas, in 1871. She lived with her son Lyman from around 1880 until she died on July 18, 1896.