George Poisson was born around 1851 in North Carolina. Poisson worked as a laborer and resided in New Hanover County, North Carolina. Poisson was accused of stealing a bull yearling and charged with larceny on April 2, 1877, and sentenced to ten years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Poisson was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2020. Poisson was described as "colored." Poisson was twenty-six years old when he was arrested. Poisson was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. On May 24, 1878, Poisson was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was pardoned on March 26, 1884.