Elizabeth R. Booher was born on January 7, 1827, in Sullivan County, Tennessee, to William Martin Booher and Rhoda Hampton. The family moved to Franklin, Indiana, around 1834, and her father earned a living as a farmer. Her mother died in November 1838, and her father remarried two years later. By 1850, the family owned $5,000 of real estate. Her stepmother died around 1854, and Elizabeth helped raise her young half-siblings. As a local writer observed, “she was more than a sister” to them. She never married, and she remained in her father’s household. By 1860, she was working as a weaver. During the Civil War, she was fiercely loyal to the Union, declaring, "down with the traitors and up with the stars." Her father died in June 1883, and she lived on Main Street in Franklin for the rest of her life. According to one writer, she “lived a faithful consistent life with a heart and hand ever ready to give.” By 1900, she was working as a dressmaker. She died in Indiana on January 14, 1916.