When John Jackson Tate was born on 4 October 1869, in Sequatchie, Tennessee, United States, his father, Humphrey Pose Tate, was 40 and his mother, Elizabeth A Guess, was 30. He married Mary Ellen Layne on 7 April 1895, in Grundy, Tennessee, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 5 daughters. He lived in Civil District 8, Weakley, Tennessee, United States in 1910 and Civil District 6, Sequatchie, Tennessee, United States for about 20 years. He died on 4 November 1949, in Daus, Sequatchie, Tennessee, United States, at the age of 80, and was buried in Layne Cemetery, Dunlap, Sequatchie, Tennessee, United States.