When Bertha S. Schoneboom was born on 29 November 1882, her father, Gerhardus George Schoneboom, was 30 and her mother, Berendina Twin Rodenbeck, was 29. She married Henry George Garrels Sr on 27 January 1900, in Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters. She died on 22 April 1963, in Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Lutheran Cemetery, Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States.