[4] Herben was born in London, England, and moved to the United States as a child, where he attended public schools in Jersey City.
[2] Following a move west, he attended Evanston Academy in Illinois, and then in 1889 obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University.
[2] That year he was ordained to the Methodist Episcopal Church ministry; he continued studies at the Garrett Biblical Institute, and received a Bachelor of Divinity in 1891.
[2] From January 1916 to 1919, he served at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Westfield, New Jersey, excepting a break during which he was commissioned as a captain in the United States military and ministered to those in France.
[4] On 27 May 1891 Herben married Grace Ida Foster, a classmate at Northwestern, in Park Ridge, Illinois.