Applin was born as Esther Richards on November 24, 1895, in Newark, Ohio, to Gary Richards, a civil engineer with the United States Army, and Jennie DeVore. Because of her father's work, she lived in various cities in Ohio, then later lived in Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and eventually moved to San Francisco at the age of 12.[2] Richards lived on Alcatraz Island with her family from 1907 until 1920,[2] while her father worked on the construction of Alcatraz Prison.