Emma Jane Bone was born on February 19, 1849, in Ohio to James and Adrian Bone. Her father was a carpenter who owned $950 of real estate by 1850, and he died on August 11, 1851. She grew up and attended school in Turtle Creek, Ohio. She married Milton Zentmeyer on September 11, 1867, and they had at least three children: Vinton, born around 1869; Lenora, born around 1872; and Everett, born around 1879. They lived in Turtle Creek, Ohio, and her husband worked as a farm laborer. By 1870, they owned $500 of personal property. They lived with her mother until at least 1880. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Indiana on September 9, 1908.