John E. Hickman was born around 1848 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Edward Hickman and Mary Shepherd. His father was a farmer who owned $300 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to Morgan County, Illinois, in the late 1840s. His father enlisted in the Union army and died in Resaca, Georgia, on June 7, 1864. Hickman settled in Arcadia, Illinois, and worked as a farmer. By 1880, he was living with his aunt Sarah Barnbrook and his cousin Sarah Hickman. He eventually got married, but his wife died sometime before 1900. By 1900, he was working on the farm of Charles and Mary Blackburn in Arcadia. He died in Jacksonville, Illinois, on December 27, 1918.