Emanuel Paisley was born around 1844 in North Carolina. Paisley worked as a laborer and resided in Moore County, North Carolina. Paisley was charged with larceny on August 25, 1875, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Paisley was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 1312. In the descriptive register, Paisley's race is noted as "colored." Paisley was thirty-one years old when he was arrested. Paisley was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Paisley was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He died while working on the North Carolina Railroad on January 10, 1876.