Emma Eilers was born to her parents Anton Eilers and Elizabeth (Emrich) Eilers September 12, 1870,[REF] in the town of Morrisania (now a neighborhood of the Bronx), becoming the 5th of 6 siblings.
Sometime between 1878 and 1881, her parents moved to Denver, Colorado, for a few years during which Anton became a successful mining engineer and smelter entrepreneur in the region, specifically in Leadville and Pueblo, Colorado.