When Emily Augusta Zeigler was born on 16 June 1893, in Tualatin, Washington, Oregon, United States, her father, John Brownlow Zeigler, was 32 and her mother, Flora Betts Tinker, was 29. She married Wendell Homer Willard on 21 August 1921, in Vancouver, Clark, Washington, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 1 daughter. She lived in Lake Oswego, Clackamas, Oregon, United States in 1900 and Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, United States for about 10 years. She died on 25 March 1974, in McMinnville, Yamhill, Oregon, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Dayton, Yamhill, Oregon, United States.