John Bristow Wornall, the oldest son of Richard and Judith Wornall, was born October 12, 1822, in Clark County, Kentucky. Two years after John’s birth the family moved to Shelby County, Kentucky, and settled four miles north of Shelbyville. Richard Wornall had been a successful farmer as well as mule and horse trader for nineteen years, but financial losses forced him to move west. In 1843, Richard, Judith, and their two sons, John Bristow and George “Thomas,” moved to Westport, Missouri. Richard Wornall purchased 498.98 acres of land from John McCoy for a total cost of $2,500. The crops from the first year reportedly paid the entire purchase price of the farm. Richard and Judith sold the land to their sons in the mid-1840s. Thomas died of cholera on the western plains in 1849, and John became the sole titleholder. After Judith died in 1849, Richard Wornall returned to Kentucky.

In 1850, John married Matilda Polk, daughter of William Polk of Bourbon County, Kentucky. She died childless in 1851. In September 1854, John married Eliza Shalcross Johnson (born April 20, 1836). Her father, Rev. Thomas Johnson, founded the Shawnee Methodist Indian Mission in Kansas in 1831.

John and Eliza had seven children. Two lived beyond infancy: Frank (September 25, 1855-June 24, 1954) and Thomas Johnson (June 28, 1865-December 5, 1923). Eliza died on July 5, 1865, a week after the birth of her last child. She was 29 years old.

On September 25, 1866, John married Eliza’s first cousin, Roma Johnson (August 30, 1840-May 9, 1933). They also had two children who lived beyond infancy: John B. (March 13, 1872-February 4, 1962) and Charles H. (born August 26, 1876-February 21, 1938).