BIOGRAPHY: Jacob C. STINEMAN, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann Olsen. Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty Mirovich and Sharon Ringler. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________________________ From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 116-7 ____________________________________________________________ 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.