Elizabeth Baker was born on June 2, 1842, in Pennsylvania to John Baker and Susan Walker. Her father was a farmer who owned $790 of real estate by 1850. She grew up and attended school in Findley, Pennsylvania, and her father died in 1857. By 1860, she was working as a teacher.
She married Samuel Barnes, and they had at least five children: Morgan, born around 1870; Catherine, born around 1873; William, born around 1875; Joseph, born around 1877; and Letitia, born around 1880. They lived in Findley until the late 1800s, when they moved to Pine, Pennsylvania. Her husband worked as a “Capitalist.” They returned to Findley in the early 1900s, and her husband died in 1917. She died in Findley on January 11, 1932, of “Injuries from an accidental fall down cellar steps.”