When Emeline Philbrick Goding was born on 3 November 1822, in Jay, Franklin, Maine, United States, her father, Jonas Coolidge Goding, was 32 and her mother, Patience Tollman Hathaway, was 31. She married Col. John Lane Hancock on 24 June 1845. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. She died on 9 June 1905, in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, at the age of 82, and was buried in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States.