Ellen Amanda Norton (maiden name: Williams) was born on October 31, 1838, in Boston, Massachusetts, to George and Rebecca Williams. Her father was a spar maker. She grew up and attended school in Boston, and she married Hannibal D. Norton on December 26, 1858. They had at least five children: Lillian, born around 1860; Ida, born around 1862; Gertrude, born around 1864; William, born around 1867; and Arthur, born around 1877.
They lived in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and her husband worked as a bookkeeper and store clerk. They moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, in the 1860s, and by 1870, they owned $700 of personal property. They moved to Washington, D.C., in the 1870s. Her husband died in December 1921, and she died in Washington, D.C., on November 11, 1924.