Benjamin Palmer was born around 1823 in North Carolina. Palmer worked as a laborer and resided in Kernersville (Forsyth County), North Carolina. Palmer was charged with larceny on May 13, 1878, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Palmer was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2709. In the descriptive register, Palmer's race is noted as Black. Palmer was fifty-five years old when he was arrested. Palmer was noted as possessing no formal education, meaning he could not read or write at that time. During his incarceration, Palmer was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He was discharged on March 12, 1880.