John Lloyd was born around 1834 in Eatontown, New Jersey, to Curtis and Julia Lloyd. She married Cornelia Harrison by 1863. They lived in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, and Lloyd worked as a stage driver and harness maker. He worked for the firm S.T. & J. Hendrickson, and he eventually purchased the firm. According to one local writer, he “made frequent trips to the West after horses.” He died of consumption in Red Bank, New Jersey, on February 22, 1891.