Celso Monteiro Furtado was born on 26 July 1920, in the town of Pombal, Paraíba, to Maurício Medeiros Furtado and Maria Alice Monteiro Furtado.

Epitácio Lindolfo da Silva Pessoa was born in the town of Umbuzeiro, Paraiba, on 23 May 1865. Having lost his parents at the age of seven, he was raised by his maternal uncle, Henrique Pereira de Lucena, the Baron of Lucena.