Asia Hayford Bisbee was born in 1832 in Sumner, Maine to Elisha and Fanny Bisbee. As a young man, he worked as a boat builder in Maine before later moving to Montana. He married Josephine Dueber (also spelled Duber or Duebin) in Lewis and Clark County in 1868. Josephine was born in 1847 in Ohio to Peter and Amelia Dueber. Asia and Josephine had two children, Elisha P. (b. 1868) and Edward (b. 1871). Josephine died (presumably in childbirth) in October 1872 in Helena, MT at age 24 or 25. Following her death, Asia travelled between Montana, Oregon, and Washington, where he contracted erysipelas, a skin disease that likely led to permanent health issues. In March 1875, he received a land patent for land in the Helena region. Later that year, he died in Oregon, at the age of 43.