Sallie C. Wolfe was born around 1857 in Rockingham, Virginia, to Alfred and Sallie Wolfe. She grew up in Rockingham County, Virginia, and her father died when she was young. She married Richard E. Hopkins on December 16, 1874, and they had at least five children: Catherine, born around 1875; Florence, born around 1878; Williette, born around 1880; Howard, born around 1881; and Landen, born around 1885.
They lived in McGaheysville, Virginia, and her husband worked as a nursery agent and farmer. Her husband died in the 1920s, and she died of a cerebral hemorrhage in McGaheysville on September 16, 1936.