The Flitte family emigrated from Norway to America in 1869, with three year old Jean in tow. He worked the family farm in Watonwan County, Minnesota, attended local schools, taught school, read law, graduated the University of Minnesota Law Department in 1892, was admitted to the bar (this was a time when University Law graduates were automatically admitted to the bar without examination), and began practicing law in Mankato, the seat of Blue Earth County. He became known for his "unusually keen and broad judgment in business matters." This ability likely impressed federal Judge William Lochren, who appointed him Referee in Bankruptcy for the Second Division, which encompassed most of southwestern Minnesota, in 1898. Reappointed he would hold that post for the next quarter century. He was a member of several city commissions, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1914, On February 15, 1927, after a lengthy illness, he died, aged sixty. In his obituary, the Mankato Free Press noted that he had attained "a position of honor and influence both as a lawyer and a citizen."

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