When Thomas Lewis Atchison was born on 4 March 1857, in Illinois, United States, his father, Jesse Forgeson Atchison, was 26 and his mother, Mary Ann Anderson, was 19. He married Mary Elizabeth Smith on 6 March 1878, in Bosque, Bosque, Texas, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 6 daughters. He lived in Justice Precinct 6, Comanche, Texas, United States in 1900 and Weinert, Haskell, Texas, United States in 1910. He died on 23 November 1944, in Haskell, Haskell, Texas, United States, at the age of 87, and was buried in Willow Cemetery, Haskell, Haskell, Texas, United States.