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"Born December 31, 1860, near Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, Joseph Stephen Cullinan was the oldest son, second of the eight children of John Francis and Mary Considine Cullinan. His parents, both natives of County Clare, Ireland, had immigrated with their separate families to the United States in the 1840s. They had been married at Dubuque, Iowa, April 13, 1856, and shortly afterward they had moved to western Pennsylvania, settling on a small farm outside Sharon, at a rural community appropriately called 'the Irish Settlement'.

Young Joe Cullinan attended public school through the lower grades and found employment at the age of fourteen in the nearby oil fields of western Pennsylvania. The following years spent in this rugged area as messenger boy, oil-wagon teamster, pipeline laborer, and drilling crew member brought Cullinan a wealth of basic vocational experience. In 1882, he became an employee of Standard Oil's major transportation affiliate, the National Transit Company of Oil City, Pennsylvania. He soon advanced to the job of foreman of pipeline and storage contruction crews as the company extended its facilities into new fields in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia."

The late Nina J. Cullinan also provided a biographical sketch on her father, "Joseph Stephen went to work at the age of 12 when his father died. He worked in the Western Penna. and Ohio oil fields until he came to Texas around 1898 and first settled in Corsicana, Texas, although he intended to move on to California. He was asked to stay on in Corsicana until 1905. It is said that he was the first one to use oil to de-dust the roads. At any rate, he had discovered the potential of oil wells in Texas and dedicated his whole life to this industry. He continued to make his home in Texas until his death in 1937 and among his many successful endeavors, he was one of the founders of the Texas Company."

Source
1. Joseph Stephen Cullinan: A Study of Leadership in the Texas Petroleum Industry, 1897-1937 by John O. King (Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville, 1970).
2. Memorandum Re: Cullinan Family, written by Nina J. Cullinan of Houston, Texas on May 7, 1979.