Rebecca Turner was born around 1846 in Indiana to James Turner and Milly Bybee. Her father was a farmer who owned $11,200 of real estate and $1,340 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Tippecanoe, Indiana, and she married Stacy Rockhill on May 19, 1864. They had at least three children: Laura, born around 1865; Alvin, born around 1867; and Myrtle, born around 1881. They lived in Tippecanoe, and her husband worked as a farmer. They moved to Franklin, Indiana, in the late 1800s, and by 1900, her husband was working as a hotel keeper. She died sometime after 1910.