When Elise Caroline Lisette Fechtmann was born on 10 May 1876, in Fort Wayne, Allen, Indiana, United States, her father, Dietrich Daniel Fechtmann, was 29 and her mother, Louise Cacilie Schmidt, was 24. She married John F. Cook on 6 September 1905, in Marion, Indiana, United States. She died on 9 December 1968, in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, United States, at the age of 92.