When Clarence Tooley was born on 27 November 1888, in Greenup, Kentucky, United States, his father, John Tooley, was 36 and his mother, Eliza Ann Hitchcock, was 38. He married Bessie Burgess on 4 August 1910, in Scioto, Ohio, United States. He lived in Springville, Greenup, Kentucky, United States in 1900 and Firebrick, Lewis, Kentucky, United States in 1910. He died on 11 August 1910, in Lewis, Kentucky, United States, at the age of 21, and was buried in South Shore, Greenup, Kentucky, United States.