When Thomas Jefferson Bledsoe was born on 12 December 1808, in Sumner, Tennessee, United States, his father, Henry Ramsey Bledsoe, was 38 and his mother, Nancy Gillespie, was 27. He married Mahala J White on 28 September 1833, in Sumner, Tennessee, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 6 daughters. He lived in Clay Township, Lafayette, Missouri, United States in 1850 and Sni-A-Bar Township, Lafayette, Missouri, United States for about 10 years. He died on 5 August 1877, in Lafayette, Missouri, United States, at the age of 68, and was buried in Bates City, Lafayette, Missouri, United States.