When Elizabeth Sophia Biddlecome was born in 1854, in Nebraska, United States, her father, Nathan Biddlecome, was 30 and her mother, Rhube Ann Abbott, was 33. She married John Hesley Newell on 22 February 1871. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. She lived in Iowa, United States in 1870 and Taloga, Dewey, Oklahoma, United States in 1920. She died on 12 February 1928, at the age of 74.