When Jesse Pierce Yoakum was born on 22 May 1823, in Roane, Tennessee, United States, his father, Valentine Yoakum, was 38 and his mother, Charlotte "Lottie" Reynolds, was 37. He married Mary Ellen Payne on 8 October 1850, in Sullivan, Missouri, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Linn, Osage, Missouri, United States in 1860 and Enterprise, Linn, Missouri, United States in 1880. He died on 25 June 1893, in Linn, Missouri, United States, at the age of 70, and was buried in Hoover Cemetery, Duncan Township, Sullivan, Missouri, United States.