Julius Rice was born around February 1834 in Connecticut to Lemuel and Maria Rice. His father was a farmer who owned $6,000 of real estate by 1850. He grew up and attended school in Cheshire, Connecticut. By 1860, he was working as a farmer, and he owned $4,000 of real estate and $100 of personal property.
He married Mary Bishop around 1861, and they had at least two children: Bertha, born around 1863; and Betsey, born around 1865. By 1870, he owned $5,000 of real estate and $1,000 of personal property. His wife died on December 26, 1905. By 1917, he was suffering from a “serious physical disability,” which he described only as a “rupture.” By 1920, he was living at Cheshire’s “Town Poor Farm.” He died on June 2, 1927.