When Elda Laura Schmidt or Smith was born on 6 July 1888, in Harrison Township, Lee, Iowa, United States, her father, Christian Schmidt or Smith, was 45 and her mother, Henrietta Wendt, was 42. She married Bruce Belmont Bradford about 1907, in Van Buren, Iowa, United States. She lived in Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa, United States in 1925 and Danville, Des Moines, Iowa, United States for about 10 years. She died in February 1986, in Donnellson, Lee, Iowa, United States, at the age of 97, and was buried in Lexington, Van Buren, Iowa, United States.