When Esther Delilah Thompson was born on 10 April 1903, in Birmingham, Van Buren, Iowa, United States, her father, Wyatt Thompson, was 36 and her mother, Minnie Nevada Lewis, was 33. She married Carl Oscar Nelson on 31 December 1925. They were the parents of at least 2 sons. She lived in Libertyville, Jefferson, Iowa, United States in 1920 and McCone, Montana, United States in 1930. She died on 22 January 1988, in San Diego, San Diego, California, United States, at the age of 84, and was buried in Fairfield, Jefferson, Iowa, United States.