Henry Spang Gilbert was born in Boyertown, Pennsylvania to a merchant family. Sometime in the 1850s the young Gilbert moved out west, first landing in Fort Bridger, Utah Territory (Wyoming today). Fort Bridger in the 1850s was a supply point foin a desolate area of the Oregon Trail and therefore was a lucrative place for merchants. In 1860 he married Margaret E. McMinn and by 1863 had two young children. By 1865 Gilbert and his growing family (ultimately fourteen children) had moved to Virginia City, Montana Territory, where he opened the Gilbert Brewery. His modest brewery served the thirsty Montana miners for decades. Henry Gilbert was killed on November 2, 1902 when his horses bolted and threw him from his wagon. He was sixty-nine years of age. His wooden brewery building stands to this day.