When John Allen Coggins was born on 31 July 1926, in Ratliff, Itawamba, Mississippi, United States, his father, Marvin Leander Coggins, was 40 and his mother, Lela Zella Grissom, was 36. He married Corene Lyles on 12 April 1947. They were the parents of at least 1 daughter. He lived in Beat 2, Itawamba, Mississippi, United States in 1930. He died on 18 March 1969, at the age of 42.