having been a member of the first Chapter in the State.
Charles Jones, the date of whose birth is recorded above, was engaged for many years in the insurance Inisiness in Bradford, in partnership with Colonel John C. Stearns. The firm became one of the best known in that section of Vermont. Mr. Jones held various positions of trust in Bradford, serving as president of the Village Corporation, Water Commissioner, School Trustee, and director and treasurer of the Bradford Electric Lighting Company. He died in April, 1901. The local paper of Bradford, in the issue of April 19, paid the following tribute to his memory; "One of the saddest duties of our twenty years' newspaper experience is to chronicle the death of Charles Jones, to us a personal bereavement, and shared by a large number of our citizens outside his immediate family. His worth was best known to those with whom he was longest and most intimately associated and who were brought into closest contact with him. He was upright and honorable, capable in all the positions of public and private affairs which he administered."
Mrs. Jones has one daughter, Mary Ellen, who was born in Bradford, May 30, 1868. She received her early education in the Bradford public schools and academy, and then took a five years' course, scientific and musical, in Wellesley College, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science in. 1889. During a large part of her college life she acted as secretary for the professor of history, thus acquiring experience that has been useful in other positions. After leaving college she taught successively in Bradford Academy; two years at Plattsburg, N.Y.; in Pontiac, III.; three years in Bradford, Vt. She was married July 6, 1899, to David Sloane Conant, who is now serving a second term as State's Attorney for Orange County. He is a lineal descendant of Roger Conant, who in 1026 with a few followers began the settlement of Naumkeag, now Salem, Mass. In club and society life Mrs. Conant has been active and useful, being especially apt in planning and carrying out social events. Various Bradford institutions have profited much from her skill in their direction, especially the Public Library, in which she has always had a keen interest. Upon the election of her mother to the office of National President of the W. R. C. in 1901, Mrs. Conant was a]ppointed National Secretary of the organization. She made improvements in the books and papers, is.sued special instruction blanks regarding reports and other work of the order, and performed the duties of the office in an intelligent, vigorous, and thorough manner. Mr. and Mrs. Conant have two children: Dorothy Stewart, born August 11, 1900: and Barbara Allerton, born November 6, 1902.
CORA BELLE AYLING was born December 16, 1870, in the village of Paw Paw, Ill., her parents uniting the blood of the old Scotch Presbyterians with that of the English. Her father, Alfred Stainbrook, in early life settled at his old home as a breeder of high-grade horses. A man of striking personality, he represented the best type of the pioneer, and to his little daughter Cora, who became his constant companion, he was the ideal of all that was best in man- hood. In those long days they spent in the saddle, riding over the great sweep of prairie, his strong character impressed on the child its absolute fearlessness, its sincerity, its hatred of shams and hypocrisy. To this day she is wont to exclaim, "I have yet to meet my father's equal."
In 1880 the Stainbrooks moved to Cleveland, Ohio, the father becoming interested in a manufacturing concern. Cora attended the public schools, showing remarkable ability in mathematics, and studied to prepare herself for teaching. Her plans were abruptly changed by the sudden death of her father while trying to save the lives of some of his men after an explosion of chemicals. The girl of seventeen found herself the responsible head of the family, with an invalid mother and two young sisters depedent on her for support. She bravely confronted the problem of bread-winning, and succeeded in maintaining the home, giving her sisters a business education as a basis for their own independence. For in time Cora held the position of book-keeper;
