When Jesse James Tolin was born on 20 July 1888, in Jasper, Illinois, United States, his father, Silas Tolin, was 38 and his mother, Sarah F. Richardson, was 37. He married Florence Carrie Arends on 7 January 1913, in Dumont, Butler, Iowa, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son. He died in July 1980, in Yankton, Yankton, South Dakota, United States, at the age of 92, and was buried in Beresford, Lincoln, South Dakota, United States.