Colin Foard was born around 1842 in North Carolina. Foard was a blacksmith who resided in Concord (Carbarrus) County, North Carolina. Foard was charged with larceny on July 5, 1875, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Foard was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 1282. In the descriptive register, Foard 's race is noted as "colored." Foard was thirty-three years old when he was arrested. Foard was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Foard was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He died while working on the Western North Carolina Railroad on February 2, 1877.