When John Franklin Jackson was born on 21 January 1834, in Allen, Kentucky, United States, his father, Dr. Alvah F. Jackson, was 27 and his mother, Nancy Virginia Coleman, was 26. He married Minerva Emmaline Summers in 1855, in Eureka Springs, Carroll, Arkansas, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 3 daughters. He lived in Arkansas, United States in 1870 and Kings River Township, Carroll, Arkansas, United States in 1880. He died on 24 October 1893, in Eureka Springs, Carroll, Arkansas, United States, at the age of 59, and was buried in Grandview Cemetery, Grandview, Carroll, Arkansas, United States.