When Esther Mary Ash was born on 17 May 1881, in Alton, Madison, Illinois, United States, her father, William Mason Ash, was 37 and her mother, Martha Alice Cummings, was 29. She married William Lewis Ward on 8 August 1906. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 1 daughter. She lived in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States for about 20 years and Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, United States in 1935. She died on 29 October 1961, in Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States, at the age of 80.