When Jones Lafayette Harvey was born on 20 March 1856, in Mississippi, United States, his father, John Thomas Harvey, was 33 and his mother, Euretha Shamburger, was 25. He married Emma Grider in 1878. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 5 daughters. He lived in Winona, Montgomery, Mississippi, United States for about 10 years and Oxford, Lafayette, Mississippi, United States in 1920. He died in 1925, in Mississippi, United States, at the age of 69, and was buried in Winona, Montgomery, Mississippi, United States.