John W. Albright was born on October 28, 1850, in Pennsylvania to William Albright and Catherine Garman. His father was a farmer who owned $560 of real estate and $75 of personal property by 1860. The family moved to Mottville, Michigan, in the 1850s, and then to Porter, Michigan, in the 1860s. Although he was too young to serve in the Union army, he remained devoted to the Union cause. In a letter to his brother William, he declared, “UNION FOR EVER…the above is our motto…we will always Ever re-member you as our Dear Brother defending the union, and hope the time is not far distant, when rebelion [sic] may be crushed from the face of the earth.”
By 1870, he was living in Porter with his brothers, William and Cyrus, and he was earning a living as a clerk. He moved to Brimfield, Indiana, in the 1870s, and he married Sophia E. Bower on July 25, 1873. They had at least three children: Daniel, born around 1875; Delta, born around 1876; Charles, born around 1879. The family lived in Brimfield, and Albright earned a living as a grocer. They moved to Mill, Indiana, in the late 1800s, and by 1900, he was working as a minister. By 1930, they were living in Kendallville, Indiana. He died there of arteriosclerosis on January 10, 1931.