When James Buchanan McQuinn was born on 15 March 1857, in Quicksand, Breathitt, Kentucky, United States, his father, Charles Brooks McQuinn Jr., was 36 and his mother, Ester Howard, was 33. He married Laura Belle Carpenter on 23 December 1877, in Magoffin, Kentucky, United States. They were the parents of at least 5 sons and 3 daughters. He lived in Mangan Township, Comanche, Oklahoma, United States in 1910 and Lawton, Comanche, Oklahoma, United States for about 10 years. He died on 6 August 1931, in Comanche, Oklahoma, United States, at the age of 74, and was buried in Faxon, Comanche, Oklahoma, United States.