When Gilbert Hathaway Goding was born on 31 May 1836, in Livermore, Androscoggin, Maine, United States, his father, Jonas Coolidge Goding, was 46 and his mother, Patience Tollman Hathaway, was 45. He married Martha Emeline Wheeler on 28 November 1860, in Brighton, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons. He lived in Brighton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States for about 10 years and Maynard, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States in 1880. He died on 13 December 1899, in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, at the age of 63.