Elivera Mathilda Carlson was born in Boone, Iowa, to Swedish immigrant parents. Her father, Carl Severin Jeremiasson (later Carl Carlson), was born in Dagsås parish, near the village of Sibbarp, Halland County, Sweden during 1841. Her mother, Johanna Maria Andersdotter (later Maria Andersson), was born in Fjärås parish, Halland County, Sweden in 1841.
Elivera Carlson and John Sheldon Doud were married on August 10, 1894. The family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1897, and then to Pueblo and Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1905, before settling in Denver in 1906. There, she became involved in the activities of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Republican women's clubs.
In April 1958, Elivera was named "Mother-in-Law of the Year" by a Mother-in-Law Day committee in New York which announced "she fully exemplifies the qualities of understanding and devotion which contribute in such measure to the unity of the American family.".
