Catherine Hackney was born on April 16, 1846, in Indiana to John and Rachel Hackney. Her father was a farmer, and her parents probably died in the 1850s. By 1860, she was living with her aunt and uncle in Carlisle, Indiana. She married George W. George on September 25, 1867, and they had at least five children: Alice, born around 1869; Jennie, born around 1873; Mary, born around 1875; John, born around 1880; and Charles, born around 1884. They lived in Shawswick, Indiana, and her husband worked as a farmer. They moved to Smithfield, Texas, in the late 1800s, and she died on March 30, 1902.