She was descended from several of the most prominent early Colonial families, and was a lineal descendant of Joseph Jenckes Jr., who founded Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and from Joseph Jenckes, his son, who for twenty years, was governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Her great-grandfather, Samuel Tefft, was a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly that on May 4, 1776, two months before the Declaration of Independence, voted to sever all political relationships with the home country of Great Britain.

Being obliged to support herself, she went out as an advertising agent for a large wholesale house of Chicago, Illinois, and was the first woman in the U.S. to fill such a position.

[1] Michel owned the homestead on Tug Hill, west of Peekskill, New York, the house on which was built from logs cut on the farm in the early 1850s.

[1] Her husband, Elijah Lee Roake (1867–1921), accompanied Michel's body to Oswego, New York, for the funeral,[2] with interment at that city's Rural Cemetery.

Michel was also survived by a half-brother, Adelbert Foster, and a half-sister, Ella Skineer; George Wilson and his mother, Emmery, who live on the old homestead on Tug Hill; Mrs. Lena Helig; and Mrs. Thomas B.