BIOGRAPHY: Jacob C. STINEMAN, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 116-7
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HON. JACOB C. STINEMAN, a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania, and a man 
who has been prominently identified with the industrial development of Cambria 
county, is a son of Jacob and Mary (Croyle) Stineman, and was born in Adams 
township, then Richland township, this county, April 9, 1842.
     His ancestral history, which appears above, shows that he is a member of 
one of the oldest families of Cambria county. The early years of Mr. Stineman's 
life were passed on his father's farm, and his education was obtained in the 
common and select schools, attending school two and three months in the year; 
but he was studious and ambitious, and made good use of his time, so that at the 
age of sixteen years he was qualified for the profession of teaching and 
followed that avocation four years in Cambria county. When the crisis of Civil 
War was upon us and the country was threatened with dismemberment and 
dissolutions, he left the school-room for the camp, enlisting in company F, One 
Hundred and Ninety-eighth regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer infantry, served to 
the close of the war, and witnessed the termination of that bloody conflict in 
the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, April 9, 1865, having taken part in a number 
of hotly contested engagements and done valiant service in defense of the flag. 
At the close of the conflict he returned to his father's farm, and for a few 
years was engaged in farming, lumbering and mercantile pursuits. In 1868 he 
began working in a coal mine; this proved to be the first step in that line of 
business which has been mainly his life's work. He was soon advanced to mine 
foreman and subsequently to superintendent of the mines in which he first 
commenced working. In 1873 he began operating for himself, and is now the owner 
of much valuable coal property, and ranks as one of the largest individual 
producers of bituminous coal in the State.
     Mr. Stineman has always been a firm believer in public improvements, the 
principles of a protective tariff, and the gold standard in monetary affairs; 
hence he has always given his support to the Republican party and its measures. 
He is a man who enters zealously into anything he advocates or undertakes; hence 
in politics no less than in business he has taken an active part. He is a great 
friend of the common schools, and has served fifteen years as a school director 
in the borough of South Fork.
     In 1885, he was the candidate of his party for the office of sheriff of 
Cambria county, and although defeated with the rest of the party candidates, yet 
his vote was so far in excess of that of his colleagues on the ticket, that he 
was nominated three years later and elected by a handsome majority.  
     In 1889 he was a delgate [sic] to the Republican State convention, and two 
years subsequently was chairman of the Cambria county Republican committee, and 
in 1892 was elected a member of the legislature of Pennsylvania, leading all the 
candidates, and in 1894 was re-elected by the handsome plurality of 1691 votes. 
In the legislature Mr. Stineman was recognized as one of its most able members. 
During the sessions of 1893 he served on the following committees: Mines and 
Mining; Judiciary (Local), Iron and Coal, Bureau of Statistics, Printing, and 
Fish and Game; and during the session of 1895 he served on the following 
committees: Appropriations, Mines and Mining, Bureau of Statistics, Iron and 
Coal, and Printing. Recognizing his valuable service to the county as a 
legislator he was nominated in 1896 for the office of State senator to represent 
the Thirty-fifth district, composed of Cambria and Blair counties.
     Mr. Stineman is an active Grand Army man, being one of the founders and the 
first commander of Daniel T. Stineman Post, No. 560, of South Fork.
     On December 20, 1866, Mr. Stineman married Ellen Varner, and their union 
has been blessed in the birth of the following children: Albert Meade; 
Washington Irving; Harvey Camerson; Nettie May; Oliver Morton; Nora Lucretia, 
who died young; Jacob Wilbur, and one that died in infancy.
     Mr. Stineman is a director in the Citizens' National bank of Johnstown, and 
a stockholder in a number of other business enterprises of Cambria county, and 
stands among the most prominent of Cambria county's business men. Energetic, 
prompt and painstaking he leaves nothing to chance or good fortune, and believes 
that good luck is but the result of good management. As a citizen he is highly 
esteemed by all who have business or social relations with him, while his 
integrity and honor are unquestioned.