Artemas Lord was born in Tryon, Prince Edward Island, the son of James Lord and Lydia Lea. When his mother died while he was a small child, Artemas was adopted and raised by his uncle, W.W. Lord. Following education at a private school, central Academy and the Wesleyan College in Sackville, he spent three years on his uncle's ships plying between Charlottetown and Great Britain. In 1856 he became a partner in his uncle's mercantile firm W.W. Lord & Co. and continued to run the business following his uncle's death until 1878. In 1881 he became the agent for the province of the Canadian Department of Marine and Fisheries.

Lord joined the First battery on Volunter Artillery in 1864 and was appointed Officer-in-Command of the Second Battery in 1868, a position he held until 1873.

He was married twice, first to Carrie M. Rich of Frankfurt, Maine, in 1959 and second to Margaret Gray, daughter of John Hamilton Gray in 1869. He had 5 sons and two daughters. He died in 1920.