Isaac N. Huddleston was born on March 17, 1838, in Tennessee to John and Lucilla Huddleston. His father was a farmer who owned $4,000 of real estate and $7,000 of personal property by 1860. The family lived in Jackson County, Tennessee, until the 1850s, when they moved to Putnam County, Tennessee. By 1860, he was working as a farmer. He married a woman named Elizabeth, and they had at least two children: Fannie, born around 1862; and Lola, born around 1878. They lived in Putnam County, and Huddleston worked as a farmer. By 1870, he owned $400 of personal property. He died on March 27, 1882.