When Susan Elizabeth Thorp was born in February 1835, in Lynchburg, Bedford, Virginia, United States, her father, Francis Thomas Thorp, was 28 and her mother, Zerinda G. Price, was 20. She married Charles Grimes Monroe on 4 July 1853, in Lafayette, Missouri, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 2 daughters. She lived in Lexington, Lafayette, Missouri, United States in 1870 and Trinidad, Las Animas, Colorado, United States for about 30 years. She died in Lafayette, Missouri, United States, and was buried in Lexington, Lafayette, Missouri, United States.