Emma was born at Desborough about 1854, the fifth of eight known children of John Nursey and Jane Coe, both of Desborough.

William was born in Desborough, about 1853, the third of five known children of Frederick Summerley of Market Harborough, and Mary Ann Coe of Leicester. Frederick died about 1860 leaving Mary with 5 young children. She was married again, in 1862, to John Jarvis with whom she had another child: Mary Ann Jarvis.

William married Emma about 1872. The 1911 census shows that Emma had 14 children, 2 of which had died before 1911.

Surviving records from World War One show that William and Emma's youngest son, William, served in the Rifle Brigade for more than 2 years, though sadly only his defaulters records have survived. Their two eldest grandsons also enlisted: Caleb Summerly enlisted in Aug 1914, but was discharged in a month because of foot problems, his brother Oliver  enlisted in 1915, lying about his age, to be discharged 4 months later. Oliver did go on to serve in France in 1918 and was killed.