When Alfred Yates was born on 14 October 1837, in White, Tennessee, United States, his father, Levi Yates, was 24 and his mother, Elizabeth Martha Frasier, was 19. He married Elizabeth Jones on 6 February 1857, in Sparta, White, Tennessee, United States. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Woodburn, Warren, Kentucky, United States in 1880 and Magisterial District 7 Bristow, Warren, Kentucky, United States in 1900. He died on 21 October 1912, in Simpson, Kentucky, United States, at the age of 75, and was buried in Shiloh United Methodist Church Cemetery, Scottsville, Allen, Kentucky, United States.