Marion Byrd was born around 1856 in North Carolina. Byrd worked as a laborer and resided in Yancey County, North Carolina. Byrd was charged with larceny on April 22, 1878, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State Penitentiary. Byrd was recorded in the North Carolina State Penitentiary's Descriptive Register for the Years 1869-1884 as prisoner number 2671. In the descriptive register, Byrd's race is noted as white. Byrd was twenty-two years old when he was arrested. Byrd was noted as being able to read and write. During his incarceration, Byrd was leased to the Western North Carolina Railroad Company to work on railroad construction. He escaped on June 2, 1879. There is no record of Byrd’s recapture.