She was born in Garrettsville, Ohio. Her father was Zeb Rudolph, a farmer and co-founder of the Eclectic Institute at Hiram, and her mother was Arabella Mason-Rudolph. Lucretia "Crete" Rudolph was a devout member of the Churches of Christ. She was of German, Welsh, English and Irish ancestry. Lucretia Garfield's paternal great-grandfather immigrated to Pennsylvania (in a part that is now Delaware) from Württemberg, Germany.