Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County Pennsylvania, p.116

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116 BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

party of Lincoln, Blaine and Garfield, and has held the following offices in his town and county; auditor of the county, from 1878 to 1881; was the first burgess of South Fork, school director for fifteen years, first postmaster of South Fork and held the office thirteen years.
    He married on September 13, 1866, Martha Paul, and to this union have been born the following children: John William, Sarah Jane, Minnie L. and Milton E., deceased; Ida L.; Reta, deceased; Viola, George L., Chester A., Pearl, Jacob H. and Essie and Eugene N.
    As a citizen Mr. Stineman commands the respect of all who know him, as a business man his career has been honorable and successful, and as a soldier he fought the battles of his country bravely.
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 qulified 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 dis-
solutions, 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.

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