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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

was a Roman Catholic; in politics a democrat, and served one term as tax collector of his district.     He married Miss Bridget Bradley, and this marriage has resulted in the birth of ten children, six daughters and four sons; John, a farmer, located near Manasses Junction, Virginia; Henry, deceased; James; Philip, who now resides at Moxham, Pennsylvania; Catharine, the wife of Francis Burgoon, of Hastings, Pennsylvania; Alice, deceased, who was the wife of Dr. Peter Malone, a dentist of Altoona, Pennsylvania; Mary, wife of Dr. J. B. Noonan; Annie, of Chest Springs; and Sarah, wife of Austin Stall, of Altoona. James Mellon, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the common schools of Ireland and Cambria counties. On leaving school he worked on the farm for his father for several years. When he began life on his own account he engaged in the lumber business in Clearfield and Cambria counties.     In 1867 he opened a coal mine on land which he owned in Carroll township, this being the first discovery of coal in this section; this mine is now operated by the firm of Magee & Lingle. He at the present time owns a colliery in the vicinity of Patton, and is engaged in the mining of coal for the supply of the custom trade of that borough.     Politically he is a democrat, and in 1893 was elected to the office of justice of the peace in his borough, and also for two years served as collector of taxes.     February 5, 1871, he wedded Miss Matilda Cunningham, daughter of John Cunningham, of Susquehanna township, this county. Ten children have blessed this marital relation. Those living are: Thomas F., Cecelia, Ada, Rudolph, Annie, Bertha and Lucy.

THE STINEMAN FAMILY. -- One of the most prominent families of Cambria county is the one whose name heads this record. Its old world home is in the little prosperous kingdom of Holland, whence came Christian Stineman, the great-grandfather of the older members (Jacob C. and George B.) of the family now living in Cambria county. He was a tailor by trade and came to America at the age of eighteen years. This founder of the family in the United States first located in Schuylkill county, this State, later removed to Bedford county, whence his son, Jacob Stineman, grandfather, removed to 1803, to what is now Cambria county, and located in what was then Conemaugh township, later Richland township and now Adams township, on the waters of the South Fork. His location in that section, almost a century ago and antedating the formation of the county itself, was fraught with all the hardships that characterize the genuine pioneer life. The first thing necessary was to build a cabin to shelter the family, then the clearing away of the woods and the planting, and soon the wilderness, whose stillness had never been broken by man, began to assume an appearance fit for habitations. Here Jacob Stineman spent the remainder of his life, engaged in the necessary pursuits of farming and milling, and died September 28, 1853. He married Elizabeth Ling, a Bedford county lady in 1805, and among his children was Jacob Stineman, the father of Jacob C. and George B. Stineman, whose sketches follow.     Jacob Stineman was born on the old pioneer homestead of the Stinemans, in Adams township, and lived and died in that section. Although a man of but limited education, yet he possessed many strong attributes of mind. He was a man of observing habits

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