Frances Ellen Rice was born on January 23, 1847, in Virginia to Richard and Sarah Rice. Her father was a farmer who died in the 1850s. She grew up and attended school in New Market, Virginia. The family moved to Stonewall, Virginia, in the 1860s, and she married John Edward Hopkins there on December 20, 1871. They had at least nine children: Mattie, born around 1872; Nannie, born around 1874; Mary, born around 1876; Sadie, born around 1878; Virginia, born around 1880; Lula, born around 1881; Bertie, born around 1884; Eva, born around 1886; Elizabeth, born around 1888. They lived in Lee, Virginia, and her husband worked as a farmer. John died on January 10, 1923, and she passed away of “senility” on August 10, 1928.