When John Reed Clinkingbeard was born on 18 February 1822, in Bell Buckle, Bedford, Tennessee, United States, his father, Robert Edley Augusta Clinkingbeard Sr., was 32 and his mother, Hannah E. Reed, was 26. He married Dianah Rimmer in 1851, in Laclede, Missouri, United States. They were the parents of at least 9 sons and 5 daughters. He lived in Laclede, Missouri, United States in 1850. He died on 19 February 1893, in Baxter, Arkansas, United States, at the age of 71, and was buried in Old Athens, Claiborne, Louisiana, United States.