When James Ralph Tatham was born on 5 January 1905, in Gay, Jackson, North Carolina, United States, his father, James Frank Tatham, was 26 and his mother, Bertha Lee Jones, was 21. He married Eula Margaret McLean on 25 June 1933, in Clayton, Rabun, Georgia, United States. He lived in Savannah, Jackson, North Carolina, United States for about 20 years. He died on 11 December 1975, in Sylva, Jackson, North Carolina, United States, at the age of 70, and was buried in Sylva, Jackson, North Carolina, United States.