Laura M. Palmer was born around April 1839 in Vermont to Jonathan and Laura Palmer. Her father was a farmer who owned $2,400 of real estate and $513 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Fayston, Vermont, and she married Myron M. Davis on December 26, 1863. They had at least two children: Alice, born around 1864; and Julius, born around 1867. They also adopted a daughter named Belle, who was born around 1884.
They lived in Moretown, Vermont, and her husband worked as a farm laborer and blacksmith. By 1870, they owned $600 of real estate and $350 of personal property. Her husband died on February 29, 1916. She applied for a widow’s pension the following month, and she eventually received one. By 1930, she was living in her daughter Belle’s household in Waitsfield, Vermont. She died in 1930.