Klara Egg was born in June 1783, still under the name Kehl Levi, in Hohenems, as the daughter of Salomon Levi and Vögel Bollag. In 1814 she worked as a maid for the Brentano brothers and left Hohenems one year later to move to Endingen in Switzerland. Her mother, who had died in 1790 at the age of 28, came from there. Whether Klara Egg remained in Endingen and possibly married there is unknown. Her brother Michael Egg worked as a peddler and emigrated in 1839 to Randegg in Baden-Württemberg.