When Laura Albertha Baldwin was born on 2 October 1871, in Mexico, Audrain, Missouri, United States, her father, Alfred Kemper Baldwin, was 28 and her mother, Frances Lenora Brandenburg, was 18. She married Franklin Benjamin McDonald on 9 February 1891, in Woodland, Yolo, California, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 3 daughters. She lived in Monticello, Napa, California, United States in 1935 and Winters Judicial Township, Yolo, California, United States in 1940. She died on 20 October 1948, in Winters, Yolo, California, United States, at the age of 77, and was buried in Winters, Yolo, California, United States.