Franklin Jefferson Malone was born on August 9, 1819, in Alabama. He married Mary L. Hardin on July 14, 1841, and they had at least eleven children: Martha, born around 1842; Mary, born around 1844; John, born around 1846; William, born around 1849; James, born around 1852; Emma, born around 1854; Robert, born around 1856; Ferdia, born around 1858; Ella, born around 1860; Callie, born around 1864; and Walter, born around 1866. They lived in Limestone County, Alabama, and he worked as a physician. He served as a surgeon in the Mexican American War.
By 1850, he owned $800 of real estate. He moved to Desoto County, Mississippi, in the 1850s, and by 1860, he owned $9,600 of real estate and $30,000 of personal property. He died on January 24, 1873.