J. R. Shuman, banker, President Stillwater Valley Bank, Covington. Of the business men of Covington, none are more worthy of special mention than is J. R. Shuman. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1826, and his early life was spent on a farm, during which he received such education as the schools afforded and a three years attendance at the Tuscarora Academy, after which he taught two winters. He came to Covington in 1851; engaged in the dry-goods business, and continued in mercantile pursuits from that time until 1872, when he was chosen President of the Stillwater Valley Bank, a position for which his varied mercantile, experience had eminently fitted him, and his long and successful management proves him the right man in the right place. He was married in 1855 to Miss Sophronia J. Huckins, who was a native of Bangor, Me., and at the time of her marriage a resident of Indiana. Mr. Shuman's residence is one of the largest in Covington; is surrounded by a spacious yard, very neatly adorned . It is situated on a prominent part of Pearl street. Mr. Shuman came to Covington when there was but a small beginning of a town, and has been identified with its improvements, and aided materially in securing many of them, having contributed more than $3,000 toward the construction of pikes and other public improvements.