When Melissa Elizabeth Wiygul was born in December 1843, in Mississippi, United States, her father, Joseph Alfred Wiygul, was 45 and her mother, Nancy A. Mayfield, was 34. She married Pinckney Emerson on 10 November 1860. They were the parents of at least 8 sons and 5 daughters. She lived in Itawamba, Mississippi, United States for about 10 years and Beat 3, Itawamba, Mississippi, United States in 1880. She died on 4 May 1910, in Mansfield, Scott, Arkansas, United States, at the age of 66, and was buried in Wister, Le Flore, Oklahoma, United States.