Susan McCabe (maiden name: Gravely) was born around 1835 in Henry County, Virginia, to Willis Gravely and Ann Barrow. Her father was a tobacconist who owned $18,400 of real estate and $15,000 of personal property by 1860. She grew up in Henry County, and she married Abner McCabe on December 6, 1853. They had at least five children: Thomas, born around 1854; Waller, born around 1856; Julia, born around 1860; Annie, born around 1861; and Peyton, born around 1863.
They lived in Henry County, and her husband worked as a farmer. By 1860, they owned $300 of personal property. Her husband died around 1868, and by 1870, she was living in her parents’ household in Henry County. By 1880, she was working as a seamstress in Martinsville, Virginia. By 1900, she was living in her son Thomas’s household in Martinsville. She died sometime after 1920.