 She was a granddaughter of Henry Collins Flagg, a former mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, and a great-great granddaughter of Major Ebenezer Flagg, who served in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment during the American Revolution, and who was killed in action in 1781.Her maternal uncles were George Whiting Flagg, a painter, and Jared Bradley Flagg, also a painter and real estate developer.Through Jared Flagg, she was a first cousin of Ernest Flagg, an American architect.