When Cliva Arvin was born on 10 January 1889, in Grayson, Texas, United States, her father, Joseph Christopher Arvin, was 30 and her mother, Permelia Thetford, was 24. She married Jesse Jackson Lovell on 11 June 1907, in Grayson, Texas, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 1 daughter. She lived in Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, United States in 1910 and Denison, Grayson, Texas, United States in 1920. She died on 13 March 1971, in Texas, United States, at the age of 82, and was buried in Cherry Mound Cemetery, Bells, Grayson, Texas, United States.