Precious Emma was the sixth child of the ten children of Augustus and Victorine (née Monnin) Ducray. She was named Emma Eldina; the "Emma M." on her marker reflects her mother's maiden name, Monnin. She was 16 years younger than her eldest sister, Sarah Jane, and 14 years younger than sister Mary. She had three elder brothers, who were 8, 6, and 3 years older than Emma. When she was two, her baby brother Nicholas was born in 1860, followed by two more sisters and a brother, each born a year apart. Sadly, it appears her little brother Nicholas did not survive infancy.

Emma's grandparents Nicholas and Frances Ducray and her uncle Julius C. Ducray and his family lived nearby. The Ducrays had family farms, and were active in their church and community. Emma's father Augustus petitioned the Fairfield town council to build the bridge over French Creek to allow crossing the creek at flood stage, particularly to allow people to cross to vote in elections and participate in council meetings during inclement weather. Her father's advocacy led to the formation of East Fairfield Township, where her family lived, on the east side of French Creek.

Emma and all her sisters and brothers attended school. Her family hired folks to help with the farm, so the children could further their education and not have to leave school to help with farming. They were fortunate; many farming families needed their children to leave school to help on the farm. The Ducray family had two fortunate sources of economic well-being that were unusual. They had a village in France, Gondenans-les-Moulins in Doubs, where Augustus was born in 1828. Their forebear Servois Ducray was one of the Ducray Nine, nine Ducray brothers who saved the life of the French King Henry IV ("Henry the Great," "Good King Henry") in the late 1590s, and were rewarded with knighthood and villages. The ideals of knighthood, honor, service, chivalry, charity, and generosity, were passed down through the generations and given heartfelt priority in conduct. When Jean-Baptiste Ducray, Augustus's brother born in 1824, prospered in the California Gold Rush in 1850, he shared generously to all of his family.

But no wealth protects people from tragedy. When Emma was 10, her brother Charles lost his life at only 15 years old, when a tree fell on him, near Stitzerville. Heartbreakingly, Emma passed away little more than a year later, just one month past her 11th birthday, of spotted fever (measles?).

Emma was granddaughter of Nicholas and Françoise/Frances (née Petitjean) Ducray of Gondenans-les-Moulins, France, and Crawford County, Pennsylvania, who emigrated in 1839 with their nine children and purchased a farm at the southern tip of Lake Tamarack, east of Meadville, near Frenchtown. They settled near friends that had preceded them to the U.S. They endured a perilous journey to the U.S., including a shipwreck (see "Hardy Pioneer Family Ducray" online). Nicholas became a trustee of the Catholic church, and donated an acre of land beside Saints Peter and Paul Church for use as the church cemetery (his last name was misspelled "Ducri" on the Deed). Many of the family are at rest there.

Siblings:
1) Cesarine "Sarah" Jane Ducray Mailliard
     3 July 1854-1935 April 7
2) Mary Octavia Ducray Roche
     27 Dec 1855-1942 March 16
3?) Justin Frank Ducray (possibly son of
Justin Ducray, raised by uncle Augustus)
      1 February 1862-1906 September 6
4) Charles H. Ducray
     8 May 1864-1880 Jan 11 (only 16)
5) Gustave Leon Ducray
     1867-1955
6) Emma Eldina Ducray
     12 March 1870-1881 April 17 (only 11)
7) Edward John Ducray
     30 April 1872-1905 Feb 21 (only 32)
8) Adelaide Maloney Ducray Vincent
     25 July 1873-1905 (only 32)
9) Charles K. Ducray, 1874-?
10) Aurelis "Aurella" E. Ducray Baird
    25 Nov 1875-1965 May 15