When Richard Breckenridge Stokes was born on 2 March 1840, in Marengo, Alabama, United States, his father, Levin Stokes, was 26 and his mother, Amanda Breckenridge, was 27. He married Sarah Caroline Henderson in 1858, in Mississippi, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 7 daughters. He lived in Yazoo, Mississippi, United States in 1880 and Bexar, Texas, United States in 1900. He died on 7 March 1902, at the age of 62.