When John Samuel Cropper was born on 25 September 1914, in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States, his father, Percy Melbourne Cropper, was 33 and his mother, Emelie Josefine Hansen, was 33. He married Magdalyn E. Elmert in 1944. He lived in San Francisco, California, United States for about 5 years and Sacramento Judicial Township, Sacramento, California, United States in 1940. He died on 4 May 1974, in Sacramento, Sacramento, California, United States, at the age of 59, and was buried in Sacramento, Sacramento, California, United States.