William Banfield Capron was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts on April 14, 1824, son of William Cargill Capron (1799-1875) and Chloe Capron (née Day) (1800-1882). He had three younger siblings, John Henry Capron (1827-1910), Samuel Mills Capron (1832-1874), and Laura Ann Washburn Biscoe (née Capron) (1837-1878). His education took him to the Phillips Academy, Yale, and the Andover Theological Seminary. He was an ordained Evangelist upon his graduation from Andover. While he was a student and seminarian, William was a private tutor in Baltimore for one year and principal of Hopkins Grammar School in Hartford, which merged into the Hartford High School, for six years.

Sarah Brown Hooker was born in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, on April 24, 1828, daughter of Henry Brown Hooker (1802-1881) and Martha Vinal Hooker (née Chickering) (1806-1893). She had two younger sisters, Anne Elizabeth Tufts (née Hooker) (1830-1917) and Martha Vinal Chickering Hooker (1836-1838). Sarah attended the Wheaton Female Seminary and the State Normal School at West Newton. She taught at the district schools of Falmouth and worked as a first assistant in the Oliver High School in Lawrence and later became an assistant in the Hartford High School.

Sarah and William met while both were teaching at the Hartford High School. They were married on October 1, 1856. Almost immediately after their marriage, the couple were assigned to the Madurai (then called Madura) Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM); they set sail for India on November 21, 1856 and arrived about 100 days later. After their arrival in Madurai, Sarah was put in char of the Madura Girls' Boarding School while William performed evangelical work and supervised the construction of a house in Manamadurai. During this time, William and Sarah had three children, Annie Hooker (1860-1909), Laura Elizabeth (1862-1946) and Henry (1864-1865). The family moved to Manamadurai in 1864.

The family continued to work in and around Manamadurai, doing evangelical, medical, and educational work for the Madurai mission, until 1872. In 1872, William's and Sarah's requests for furlough were accepted and the whole family sailed back to the United States. During this time, William helped to write a publish a memorial book for his brother, Samuel Mills Capron, who had taken over as principal of the Hopkins Grammar School after William and died on April 1, 1874. Their furlough was ended in 1874 when Sarah and William sailed back to India to continue their work with the Madurai mission. Their daughters, Annie and Laura, remained in the United States under the care of Sarah's sister Anne and her husband Arthur Webster Tufts.

After returning to Madurai, Sarah took some medical lessons, before she and William returned to Manamadurai. In 1876, William suddenly died due to heart disease. Sarah remained in India, though she was reassigned to Madurai, to continue her work with the Madurai mission. She remained in India until 1886 when she retired from her foreign missionary work and returned to the United States. Her work with the ABCFM did not conclude though and between 1886 and 1889, Sarah worked with the Women's Board of Missions and traveled extensively to give speeches and talks about her missionary work to local missionary groups and churches.

In 1889, Sarah accepted the superintendent's position at the Women's Department of the Bible Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago (later the Moody Bible Institute). For five years she worked and lived in Chicago before retiring in 1894. After her retirement, she returned to Boston and lived with her sister Anne for many years. Eventually, likely due to their age, the two moved to Poughkeepsie to live with Laura and her husband James Dyer Keith (1864-1943). Anne died on April 9, 1917, and Sarah died on December 15, 1918.

The histories of Annie H. and Laura E. are significantly less well documented. Laura married her husband, James D. Keith on June 1, 1892. They had two children, James Monroe Keith (1893-1982) and Annie Hooker Hart (née Keith) (1895-1969). She and her husband lived in Poughkeepsie, and were well known within Poughkeepsie, until their deaths; Laura died on June 14, 1946.

Annie married her husband, Lewis Kennedy Morse (1869-1930), on April 21, 1897. They had two children, Anna Hooker Haynes (née Morse) (1899-1992) and Arthur Webster Morse (1900-1975). The documentary evidence shows that Annie's and Laura's families were very close, with both families visiting the other with some frequency. Annie died on October 31, 1909.