Laura Colley was born on October 2, 1850, in Washington County, Virginia, to Christopher and Mary Colley. Her father was a waggoner who owned $700 of real estate and $400 of personal property by 1860. She grew up in Washington County, and she never married. She lived in her father’s household until at least 1900. By 1910, she was living with her sister Mary Jane in Abingdon, Virginia. She died of cerebral apoplexy in Washington County on July 17, 1934.