Hartman was born at Cottage, Pennsylvania. He attended public and private schools and the Hollidaysburg Seminary in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He was employed as a clerk in a general store in Hollidaysburg from 1872 to 1878, and as a manager of a blast furnace at McKees Gap, Pennsylvania, from 1878 to 1891. He returned to Hollidaysburg after being elected prothonotary of Blair County, Pennsylvania, in 1891. He was reelected in 1894 and in 1897. He was extensively engaged in the quarrying and shipping of ganister. He served as president of the Hollidaysburg Trust Co. from 1898 to 1930.

Hartman was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-second Congress. He was unsuccessful as a candidate for reelection in 1912, and for election in 1914. He resumed his former mining and banking pursuits at Hollidaysburg. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1908, 1924, and 1928. He died in Hollidaysburg. Interment was in Presbyterian Cemetery.

• United States Congress. "Jesse L. Hartman (id: H000301)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Political Graveyard