 Zelie Passavant was born in Jackson, Michigan, the daughter of Hubbard Rufus Emerson and Zelie Passavant Emerson.Her grandfather was a Lutheran minister, William Passavant; her great-grandmother Fredericka "Zelie" Basse Passavant was the inspiration for the town name of Zelienople, Pennsylvania.Zelie's mother was linked romantically with Andrew Carnegie as a young woman, and remained a friend and correspondent of the industrialist into later life.