Sophia Maria Henrica Möller was born on September 26, 1848 in Kassow, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (now within the province of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany). She was the second child of Johann FRIEDRICH Engel and CHRISTINA Elisabeth Dorothea Henrietta Möller. Like her older sister Maria (who was born in 1845), Sophia was born before her parents were married. The circumstances behind this situation are unknown - perhaps they were not allowed to marry by the landowner or the parents, but when they did finally marry in 1852, the births of both Sophia and Maria were "legitimized", and their surname officially changed from Möller to Engel.

The Engel family made their home in the town of Lüssow. When Sophia was just 18 years old, on January 23, 1867, her mother Christina passed away likely due to complications from childbirth. With young children to care for, her father Friedrich quickly remarried - on July 5, 1867 - to Sophie Prieff (although he had no other children).

On November 8, 1867, also in Lüssow, Sophia married a young man named Carl Becker - who was from the same town. They had a son named Johann Becker on November 26, 1869. By that time, the Beckers had already decided to make a new start for themselves in the United States. On April 27, 1870, Sophia, Carl & Johann, as well as Sophia's older sister Maria Engel departed from Hamburg aboard the SS Hammonia; they arrived in New York City 14 days later - on May 11th.

After arriving in the United States, the Beckers and Maria Engel traveled on to Detroit, where their uncle Christoph Engel (younger brother of their father Friedrich) was living (as well as another uncle Henry, an aunt Sophia and their grandmother Sophia Dorothea Schindler Engel).

Another sister of Sophia and Maria - Louise Engel, who was born in 1853 - followed them to the United States the following year in 1871. Louise traveled together with Carl Becker's father Hans Joachim Becker and brother Joachim Becker (together with his wife Sophia and young son).

For the first few years after arriving in Michigan, the Beckers lived in Springwells Township - on the near southwest side of the growing city of Detroit, near (or possibly WITH) their uncle Christoph Engel. The Beckers and Engels were farmers, and the expanding city was quickly reducing the amount of available farmland in the area. Both families were also growing (with children)! In about 1877, the Beckers moved to the neighboring Ecorse Township (farther to the southwest) - where farmland was still plentiful. (A few years later, uncle Christoph Engel's family also moved further away from the city, but still within Springwells Township.)

Sophia's only other living siblings - Wilhelmina Engel (born in 1859) and August Engel (born in 1866) - immigrated to the United States in 1881 and 1890 respectively, after the death of their father.

There were 7 children born to Sophia and Carl Becker after settling in Michigan (for a total of 8 including son Johann):

1869 - Johann Joachim Karl - died age 5.5 years due to Scarlet Fever
1872 - Anna - died age 7.5 months due to a cholera infection
1873 - Frederick Herman
1876 - Louise Bertha Minna
1878 - Karl Ludwig Berthold
1881 - Augustine Caroline
1883 - Herman
1896 - Lily Louise Bertha Sophia

Over the span of years, the Beckers succeeded in achieving the American dream. Their hard work enabled them to build a large farmhouse, and own a large and successful farm in Ecorse Township (what is now the city of Allen Park). Becker Avenue and Englewood Avenue in Allen Park are a testament to their success.

Sophia and Carl were married for nearly 47 years before husband Carl's death in 1914 from stomach cancer. A few years after Carl's death, the farm was sold and divided among the surviving children, and Sophia and daughter Lily moved to a new home on Mason Place in southwest Detroit - just a few blocks away from the Christoph Engel farm - which had also been sold and subdivided in the intervening years. Sophia died in Detroit in 1932, at the age of 83.