Esther Victoria Gilbert was born around 1846 in Ohio to Hammond and Susan Gilbert. Her father was a farmer who owned $600 of real estate in 1850. The family lived in Jackson, Ohio, until the 1850s, when they moved to Liberty, Ohio. She married David Binns there on July 26, 1866, and they had at least two children: Vienna, born around 1868; and John, born around 1869. They lived in Liberty, and her husband worked as a farmer. By 1870, they owned $3,000 of real estate and $400 of personal property. She died sometime after 1870.