BIOGRAPHY: John CUNNINGHAM, 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. 360-1
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JOHN CUNNINGHAM, a prosperous farmer and timber dealer of Vintondale, Cambria 
county, is a son of William an Catharine (Little) Cunningham, and was born near 
Chambersville, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 16, 1851.
     Mr. Cunningham's ancestry is Celtic origin; but his grandfather, John 
Cunningham, whose father was a Revolutionary soldier, was a native of Indiana 
county, this State, in which county he passed his entire life.
     William Cunningham (father) was also a native of Indiana county, born on 
August 28, 1831, and resided there until he entered the Civil War. He enlisted 
in the Federal army, February 4, 1864, in company I, One Hundred and Sixty-
second regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer infantry, and was seriously wounded at 
the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864. He was immediately taken to 
Fredericksburg hospital, and five days later--May 10--died from the effects of 
the wound. He was a carpenter by trade, and followed contracting and building 
all his life. He was a man of good judgment and possessed fine executive 
abilities--faculties which made him a successful business man. His matrimonial 
alliance with Catharine Little, a daughter of James and Elizabeth Worrier 
Little, resulted in the birth of eight children: Elizabeth; Dusanna; John, 
subject; Catharine; Isabella; James, a farmer of Davis, Indiana county; Sadie 
M., the wife of D. M. Black, also of Davis; William and Winona.
     John Cunningham acquired his mental training in the public schools of 
Indiana county, and after leaving school, in 1871, embarked in lumbering in 
Cambria township, Cambria county. In 1876 he purchased a farm of three hundred 
acres in that township, upon which he resided until February, 1895, when he 
removed to Vintondale, being the second citizen of that village. Immediately 
after locating there he engaged in lumbering, furnishing timber at the rate of 
ten thousand feet per day, to Baker Brothers, lumber manufacturers of Ebensburg.
     Mr. Cunningham is a member of Blacklick Lodge, No. 1088, I.0.0.F., and Camp 
No. 227, Sons of Veterans, of Ebensburg, of which he is a past commander. He is 
a republican in politics, and was elected justice of the peace, of Vintondale, 
in February, 1895.
     August 12, 1872, the nuptials were celebrated which made Mr. Cunningham and 
Miss Sallie A. Helman, a daughter of Samuel Helman, of Indiana county, husband 
and wife. Their marriage has been blessed in the birth of twelve children: 
Robert R., an electric engineer of Indiana county; Etta P., wife of John 
Huffman, of Vintondale; William C., Samuel C., Inez, James, Charles, George, 
Cora, and Norman, are at home with their parents and Nora A., and Winfield S., 
are deceased.