When John B Vandiver was born in 1799, in Moulton, Lawrence, Alabama, United States, his father, Reverend George Vandiver, was 35 and his mother, Mary Ann Poole, was 39. He married Phoebe Vandiver in 1820, in Lawrence, Alabama, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 3 daughters. He died in 1833, in his hometown, at the age of 34.