Born on June 3, 1876, in White Bead Hill in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, Elinore Pruitt knew hard times from an early age. Her father died when she was three, and she was raised by her mother, Josephine Elizabeth, and her mother’s new husband (the brother of her first husband), Thomas Pruitt. Her parents died by the time she reached age eighteen and orphaned her and her seven surviving half-siblings. Two of the girls were married off, and the rest, along with Elinore, went to live with a grandmother. By 1902 Pruitt had married, and she and her husband, Harry C. Rupert, had filed for a homestead claim. It was during this period that she began writing for the Kansas City Star. Four years later, she had a daughter, Jerrine, and claimed to be a widow, although she was probably divorced.