J. C. Valentine, an old and reliable business man of Edinburg, was born in Lycoming County, Penn., August 19, 1819, the son of Jacob Valentine, a native of one of the eastern states. He spent the first fifteen years of his life in his native state, and in 1834, accompanied his parents to Switzerland County, Ind., where he grew to manhood. While still young, he began working at the carpenter’s trade, in which he acquired great proficiency, as is attested by the numerous residences, barns, and other buildings he erected while following his chosen calling in Switzerland County. He followed mechanical pursuits for a period of twenty years, abandoning that work in 1860, and engaging in the mercantile business at the town of Edinburg, where he has since resided. He carried a full line of groceries and queensware; also, feed, lime and cement, in which departments of the trade, he led the town. Mr. Valentine has met with encouraging success in his business, having by diligent attention to the demands of the trade, and by that exercise of economy by which his life has been characterized, succeeded in accumulating a comfortable competence. He was, until recently, associated with his son, under the firm name of Valentine & Son, but is now living a retired life in Edinburg. Mr. Valentine is an active member of the Methodist Church, and for a period of forty years, has been prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity. He is a democrat in politics, and while not a partisan in the sense of seeking official preferment, has always taken a lively interest in political matters, both local and national. Mr. Valentine married in Switzerland County, in December, 1842, Miss Elmira Cole, who has borne him ten children, four of whom are living, viz.: Phoebe F., Thomas E., John C., and Horsford E. Like his ancestors, Mr. Valentine possesses a vigorous body, and although nearly seventy years of age, retains, unimpaired, all his faculties, both mental and physical, and bids fair to outreach the allotted three score years and ten.