When Elsie Virginia Sohlinger was born on 30 September 1885, in Stoutsville, Monroe, Missouri, United States, her father, John Philip Sohlinger, was 23 and her mother, Emma L. Cluskey, was 19. She died on 16 May 1974, in Shelbina, Shelby, Missouri, United States, at the age of 88, and was buried in Stoutsville, Monroe, Missouri, United States.