When Zebulon Baird Bates was born on 11 May 1842, his father, Bazzel B Bates, was 30 and his mother, Sarah Baird, was 35. He married Martha Jane Tidwell on 19 March 1865, in Gallatin, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 4 daughters. He died on 22 January 1926, in Hickman, Tennessee, United States, at the age of 83, and was buried in Hickman, Tennessee, United States.