Elias W. Ticknor (1836-1906) was born in Illinois and died in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1859 he married Sarah E. Ticknor (b. Smith) in Morgan County, Illinois. From 1861 to 1864 he served as a sergeant in Company K, 27th Regiment of the Illinois infantry in the American Civil War. Ticknor was a stock dealer and his wife ran a boarding house and was involved in the Women's Relief Corps. By 1880 they were living in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where they remained until about 1887. Thereafter, they relocated to Chillicothe, Missouri, North Bend and Cottrell, Nebraska, and finally, by about 1893, to Omaha, where they remained for the rest of their lives. In about 1886 both Ticknors studied Christian Science with Janet T. Colman, a student of Mary Baker Eddy's. They then took Eddy's Primary class in January 1887 and subsequently joined the Christian Scientist Association.

See more letters.