Grayson Carter was born around 1815 in Pennsylvania to John and Rebecca Carter. He married Cassandra Smith around 1838, and they had at least ten children: Eliza, born around 1839; George, born around 1840; Thomas, born around 1841; Harriet, born around 1844; Benjamin, born around 1846; Sarah Ann, born around 1848; Louisa, born around 1849; William, born around 1853; Mahala, born around 1858; and Susan, born around 1860. They lived in St. Clair, Ohio, until the early 1840s, when they moved to Jefferson, Pennsylvania.
Carter worked as a coal miner and shoemaker. They moved to Millsboro, Pennsylvania, in the 1850s, and by 1860, Carter owned $150 of real estate and $200 of personal property. A decade later, he was working as a laborer, and he owned $600 of real estate and $300 of personal property. He moved to East Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the 1870s. He broke his shoulder in 1880 and was unable to work for at least four months. His wife died sometime in the late 1800s, and by 1900, he was living with his son George in East Bethlehem. He died around 1901 in Pennsylvania.