[3] In 1836, Radford married Elizabeth Campbell Taylor and they had 7 children, including Nannie, who married Confederate General Gabriel C. Wharton, and James Lawrence, who served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates.

[4][5] After their marriage, John and Elizabeth moved to Radford, which at the time was a community known as "Lovely Mount."

[6] Between 1838 and 1840, Radford oversaw the building of the Arnheim plantation to serve as his family home.

In 1844, Radford was appointed by the Virginia Board of Public Works as a Director of the LaFayette and English Ferry Turnpike Company.

[7] In 1864, during the American Civil War, Radford's Arnheim home was shelled by cannons during the Battle of New River Bridge, as the Union Army mistakenly assumed the home to be the headquarters of the Confederacy.