When George Ela was born on 11 July 1793, in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, United States, his father, Nathaniel Whittier Ela, was 27 and his mother, Esther Emerson, was 27. He married Sarah Anne Coffin Hill on 12 December 1839, in New Durham, Strafford, New Hampshire, United States. He lived in New Durham, Strafford, New Hampshire, United States in 1850. He died on 11 January 1858, in Durham, Strafford, New Hampshire, United States, at the age of 64, and was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, United States.