Elizabeth Guthrie O'Rorke was born in Virginia in about 1794. A resident of Raleigh, she married John O'Rorke, an Irish coach maker in 1822. Due to her husband's successful business, Elizabeth often engaged in the city's elite social circles and resided near St. Mary's School, where the Cotten family often visited her. She died in March 1865 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina.