Information about Elias Link comes from a genealogy published by his granddaughter, Mabel Link Buzzard (1904 - 1984), titled "The Elias Link Family - Linking the Past and Present of Descendants, 1844 - 1973," published by Litho Printers, Cassville, MO, 1973. Mabel Link Buzzard was the daughter of Elias' son, Ernest A. Link. She was a schoolteacher in Racine, MO.

Elias Link was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. His parents were David Link (b. 1795) and Hannah Mowrey Link. He and his father were blacksmiths in Gold Hill, NC, and owned a general store there, probably in conjunction with the blacksmith shop. They went to Salisbury, NC, to buy supplies for the store.

Elias married Philpina Culp on October 3, 1843, in Cabarrus County, NC. In about 1856, Elias and Philpina and their six children moved to McDonald County, Missouri. They moved with a party of 60 that also included Elias' in-laws, John and Harriet Culp. See Philpina Link bio.

In Missouri, Elias was required to report to Newtonia for a Civil War service examination. He was deferred due to an old foot injury that impaired his walking. During the War, the family was visited by Bushwhackers, who demanded gold and threatened to hang Elias. He was left unharmed, but the outlaws cut weaving from the loom of his oldest daughter, Margaret (Cook), who "pounded the daylights out of them."

Philpina died in 1866 (or 1865), after surviving the hardships of the War.

In 1869 Elias married Margaret Ann Dunagan (b. April 5, 1838), and together they had five children. In the 1870s he bought a farm in nearby Newton County. His original farm in McDonald County was partitioned to his older children.

Elias died in 1884 and is buried in the Culp Cemetery, sharing a headstone with Philpina and their two children, Franklin and Frances. The Culp Cemetery is located on the old John Culp homestead.

Margaret Dunagan Link died August 21, 1900, and is buried in Macedonia Cemetery, Stella, MO.