When Walter Elijah Lunsford was born on 20 February 1884, in Mine La Motte, Madison, Missouri, United States, his father, William Hiram Lunsford, was 31 and his mother, Mary Ann Weatherington, was 31. He married Retta May Sayton on 29 November 1911, in Fredericktown, Madison, Missouri, United States. He lived in Liberty Township, St. Francois, Missouri, United States for about 10 years. He died on 3 December 1952, in Madison, Missouri, United States, at the age of 68.