His father ran a small country store. At the age of ten he was the chore-boy in the store and then rose to position of partner. He would recall how he once walked all the way to Philadelphia to purchase goods for the store. He married at age 20. His wife was a dress-maker. Jacob Huntzinger was an early store owner in Orwigsburg. He then moved to Pottsville where he successfully operated a steam flour mill for four years. He operated a colliery and the company store connected with it and made $10,000 in a single year. He operated three powder mills simultaneously. He continually speculated in real estate making large profits. He got involved in banking. He was the first president of the Pennsylvania National Bank. He later resigned and was connected with the Miners trust Company Bank. It would be referred to as the Huntzinger Bank. It became very popular and was used largely by the working class as a savings bank. Jacob Huntzinger became accustomed to paying large dividends to the shareholders. He himself owned at least 22.5 per cent. This made him and his family very wealthy. In 1876 the Bank was shut down. The bubble had burst. The total that was supposed to be on deposit was about 1.25 million dollars. It was doubtful that the depositors would ever get more than 5 per cent of their money back. When the Bank closed Huntzinger fled to Philadelphia due to the angry crowds that were forming in Pottsville. He was soon arrested for conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Bail was set at $200,000 which was posted by his family. The police had to protect Huntzinger from what the NY Times referred to as a crowd of angry women who jeered and threatened his safety.

New York Times as a front page story after they were sentenced to two years imprisonment