Elsie was born the fifth in a family of eleven children on 14 May 1837 in Lomme, Malmohus, Sweden the daughter of Jens and Elna Anderson. In 1854, when Elsie was 17 years old, the Anderson family immigrated to America. They began in Sweden and made their way to Liverpool, England. In Liverpool on January 15, 1854 they boarded a clipper ship named “Charles Buck” which set sail on January 17, 1854. They sailed from England with nearly 600 passengers which included 403 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They arrived in New Orleans on March 15, 1855 where they got their luggage ready to transfer to a steamboat. They arrived in St. Louis on March 27-29, 1855 and remained there until they could take another steamship to Keokuk, Iowa on April 12. The Anderson family was exposed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints while on their journey and Else was baptized a member in May 1855, and her father, Jens Anderson, was baptized on November 21, 1855. 

On 22 June 1856 Else Anderson married John Nils Larson, who had been her shipmate on the “Charles Buck,” in Keokuk Iowa. In 1857 John and Elsie made the trek to the Salt Lake Valley traveling with John’s brother, Lars, and his wife and Elsie’s parents. In 1860 they settled permanently in Moroni, Sanpete County, Utah Territory. Together she and John had 17 children, 7 who lived to adulthood