Martha Cola was born on December 5, 1816, in Plainfield, New Hampshire, to Daniel Cole and Martha Johnson. She married Laurens A. Grannis in June 1836, and they had at least five children together: Edward, born on November 30, 1838; Mary, born around 1839; Timothy, born around 1841; Francis, born around 1846; and John, born around 1848. Grannis worked as a farmer, and the value of their real estate steadily grew from $2,400 in 1850 to $3,000 in 1860 and then to $5,000 in 1870. The couple moved to Guildhall, Vermont, sometime in the 1860s, and Grannis died there on October 30, 1896. Martha passed away in Lancaster, New Hampshire, on July 3, 1898, and was buried in Union Cemetery in Claremont, New Hampshire.