voelker was born on june 29, 1903, in ishpeming, michigan, the youngest of six, to george and annie (née traver) voelker. his father, of german ancestry, was a bar owner in ishpeming. his grandparents were german immigrants who came to the mining towns of ontonagon and negaunee in the upper peninsula of michigan to establish breweries. george voelker was born in ontonagon in 1860 and learned to speak the ojibwe language before english. young john, alongside his older brothers, learned from his father to fly fish for brook trout. annie voelker was a music teacher who instilled in her son a love for the written word. voelker spent most of his life in his hometown. his mother encouraged him to pursue his education; his father was content for voelker to follow in his footsteps as a barkeeper. he attended the northern michigan normal school (now northern michigan university) starting in 1922. he graduated with a teaching certificate in 1924, and then transferred to the university of michigan law school. while there, he met his future wife, grace taylor of oak park, illinois. the faculty at the university of michigan asked him to withdraw from the school in 1927, but he cited a regulation allowing him to be reexamined. he improved his grades enough to graduate from the school in 1928 and passed the michigan bar exam later that year.