Emelia M. Weston (maiden name: Marshall) was born on September 14, 1837, in Boston, Massachusetts. She married George W. Weston on September 14, 1857, in Hancock, New Hampshire, and they had at least two children: Ralph Marshall, born on November 16, 1858; and Wendell Maro, born on June 12, 1861. They moved to Low Moor, Iowa, in the late 1850s, and her husband worked as a farmer there. By 1860, they owned $2,500 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property. Her husband served in the Union army from August 1862 until August 1863, and he died on August 18, 1863. She applied for a widow’s pension in October 1863 and eventually secured one. She passed away in Low Moor soon afterward, on September 22, 1867.