Albert Whitcomb was born in Vermont on August 14, 1827, learning the printing trade. In 1851 he married Aurilla Huntley and in 1855 they moved to the newly opened Kansas territory in the hopes that the climate would improve Whitcomb's health.

By the fall of 1855 the couple were in Lawrence, Kansas, and Whitcomb worked in the Herald of Freedom newspaper offices until they were burned down by pro-slavery forces. Thereafter Whitcomb started his own job printing business, which he continued until 1867.

Later, Whitcomb took up horticulture, starting a greenhouse and becoming a charter member of the Society of American Florists. Albert Whitcomb passed away in August 1901. His wife Aurilla passed away in 1923. Their son Ansel, born in 1864 in Lawrence, continued his father's greenhouse business. Ansel Whitcomb died in 1944.