Jesse Givens was born around 1821 in Kentucky. He married Matilda Johnson on March 29, 1849, and they had at least six children: Wallace, born around 1849; John, born around 1850; Robert, born around 1853; Mary, born around 1855; Charles, born around 1859; and Elizabeth, born around 1866. They lived in Jefferson, Missouri, and he worked as a farmer. By 1850, he owned $300 of real estate. They moved to Cooke County, Texas, in the 1850s, and by 1860, he owned $450 of real estate and $2,295 of personal property. He enlisted in the Confederate army in January 1864. He died around 1871.