Julius, or Jake, as he was known, was born September 16, 1901 in St. Ansgar township, Mitchell county, Iowa. He was baptized into the Lutheran church on October 19, 1901 at the First Lutheran church in St. Ansgar. The birth records at Osage spelled his name Julius Martimus Kittleson. His father was Charles Edward Kittleson, and his mother was Amelia Johnson Kittleson.
He was a member of First Lutheran Church, St. Ansgar, Iowa, and served on the Board of Directors of the St. Ansgar Citizens State Bank for many years. He was active in farming, raising corn, onions, potatoes and other crops on the family farm with his brother, Carl.
He married Elvira Lutz Mueller on July 16, 1965, when he was 64 years old. They made their home in St. Ansgar. Elvira was born in Grafton, Worth county, Iowa, on March 29, 1911, the daughter of William Lutz and Martha Feldt. She had married Claire Mueller in 1935; he died in 1953.
He was an avid reader and probably remembered everything he ever read. He had studied Latin when he was younger, and liked Greek and Egyptian history. He made a trip to the Egypt and other places in the eastern Mediteranean when he was in his seventies.
He died on December 10, 1984, at the Mitchell County Memorial Hospital in Osage, of Metastatic Prostatic Carcinoma. He was buried in the First Lutheran Cemetery in St. Ansgar.
He enjoyed smoking cigars, and playing billiards at Billies' Club in St. Ansgar.