Dorothy Alice Schmitz (1907-1974) was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Franklin Curtiss Schmitz (1870-1946) and Laura East (1871-1961). The couple relocated from Clinton, Iowa, to Brooklyn, New York, after their marriage in 1896. Dorothy married Orrin Sheridan Vogel (1899-1961) in 1933 and relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, when Orrin Vogel became employed by the Georgia Power Company. Dorothy and Orrin Vogel had two daughters, Patricia Ann Vogel (1936-2005) and Barbara Jean Vogel (1939-2013) before their divorce in 1939. Afterwards, Patricia Ann Vogel lived with her father and later relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, while Barbara Jean Vogel continued living with her mother in Atlanta. At this time, Dorothy Vogel worked for the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and also organized United Service Organization (USO) dances. In her 'Atlanta's Unspoken Past' oral history interview, Barbara Vogel states that her mother also had a number of women partners throughout her lifetime.

Barbara Vogel attended Alabama College. later the University of Alabama, as a physical education major. She later attended Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing and worked as a hospital administrator until her retirement in 2001. She was with her partner, Charlene McLemore (1946-?), from 1990 until Barbara's death. Charlene was born in Kingsport, Tennessee, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1978. She has two children from a previous marriage.