When John David Lamma was born in 1908, in Getz Corner, Shenandoah, Virginia, United States, his father, Oscar Weldon Lamma, was 28 and his mother, Annie Belle Rinker, was 23. He married Margaritte Feasel on 27 March 1931, in Seneca, Ohio, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. He lived in Tiffin, Seneca, Ohio, United States in 1940 and Seneca, Ohio, United States in 1974. He died in 1974, in Tiffin Township, Defiance, Ohio, United States, at the age of 66, and was buried in Tiffin, Seneca, Ohio, United States.