When James Louis Martell was born on 30 July 1919, in Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States, his father, Louis James Martell, was 33 and his mother, Margaret L. Joy, was 27. He married Velora Fischer on 8 August 1942, in Menominee, Menominee, Michigan, United States. He lived in Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin, United States in 1935 and De Pere, Brown, Wisconsin, United States in 1940. He died on 16 September 1979, in Skokie, Cook, Illinois, United States, at the age of 60, and was buried in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States.