Representative women of New England/Calista R. Jones
CALISTA ROBINSON JONES, Past National President of the Woman's Relief Corps, was born March 22, 1839, in Chelsea, Vt., and during the greater part of her life has been a resident of that State, her home for the past twenty years and more having been in the town of Bradford.
Her parents were Cornelius and Mary A. (Pike) Robinson. Her maternal grandmother, Sophia Lyman, wife of James Pike, was a daughter of Richard Lyman, of Lebanon, Conn., who marched with others from Connecticut "for the relief of Boston in the Lexington alarm, April, 1775," and in April, 1777, enlisted for three years under Captain Benjamin Throop, having the rank of Sergeant in the First Regiment, Connecticut line, under Colonel Jedediah Huntington. Solomon Robinson, great-grandfather of Cornelius Robinson, was in the battle of Bennington.
Calista Robinson, as she was known in girlhood, was educated in the public schools and academy of Chelsea and at Rutgers Female Institute, New York City. For three years she was a teacher in the Washington School in Chicago. A few days after the attack on Fort Sumter, with the assistance of three other teachers she made a regulation fifteen-foot bunting flag, every star of which was sewed on by hand. This was the first flag to float over a school-house in Chicago. She assisted in distributing supplies to the thousands of troops who passed through that city en route for Washington. Returning to Vermont in 1864, she was married in Chelsea, September 8 of that year, to Charles .Jones, a native of Tunbridge, Vt., and a graduate of Chelsea Academy. He was born .July 18, 1837.
When a Relief Corps auxiliary to Washburn Post, G. A. R., was formed in Bradford, 't., Mrs. Jones became a charter member, serving as President two years and holding some office ever since. The Department Convention of Vermont elected her successively Junior Vice-President, Senior Vice-President, and President. She has served on important committees in the State and national organizations, and has been active as a member of the Andersonville Prison Board of the National W. R. C. After doing effective work as Department Patriotic Instructor, she was appointed a member of the first National Committee on Patriotic Instruction. She was National Junior Vice-President in 1899, and at the convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, in September, 1901, she was elected National President, receiving a unanimous vote. She performed the duties of this office in an admirable manner, and her address delivered in Washington, October 9, at the session of the Twentieth National Convention, was received with approval. A few extracts are here given: "The Twentieth National Convention marks the close of the second decade in the history of the Woman's Relief Corps. The history of the first decade was OIK' largely cxpcriinciital and characterized by most rayiul growtli in nunibpr.« and development. . . . Now we tind ourselves looking out over a field of work limitl»'ss in extent, and we find ourselves, too, most admirably prepared to carry forward the lines of work projected to reach, if possible, the highest ideal ever set for woman's work.
"This year, 1901-1002, has been a remark- ably successful one from every standpoint. . . . This has been brought about because the time was ripe, the officers of the administration wonderfully cajiable for the places they were called to fill; the spirit of the day was for pros- perity, for advancement.
"It is with feelings of great satisfaction that I am permitteil to tell you to-day that never were Memorial Sunday and Memorial Day more generally observed than in the year 1902. "Contributions to the Southern Memorial Day fund came with much promptness from corps and also from indivitlual members, in many instances accompanied with letters filled with patriotic enthusiasm. There was in the hands of the national treasurer, from last year's contribution, nine hundred and forty-two dol- lars. This year we have .sent to the Quarter- master-general of the Grand Army one thou- sand six hundred and thirty-one dollars and ninety-three cents, and there is one hundred and thirty-three dollars and ninety-four cents now remaining in the treasury. . . . The amount sent South this year by the W. R. C. is the larg- est sum ever sent in any one year. We are most glad that the response was so generous, and we are positively assured by the com- mander-in-chief that the need was never greater nor the work of decorating more thoroughly performed. . . .
"We have formed a closer union with the G. A. R., to whom, as Colonel Bakewell says, ' the Woman's Relief Corps is married ' : and in that closer union of spirit and methods of work, in uniformity of pm'pose and material, we must hand to our posterity a heritage rich in the ideal teaching anil living of a higher citizenship than we have ever known.
"Patriotic days have been widely observed. In response to the Flag Day letters bearing the joint message of the (i, A. R. and W. R. G., flags floated from ocean to ocean. . . .
"Work has rapidly advanced along all lines. Flags, charts, oleographs, have been placed in the schools. Patriotic j)rograms of rare merit have been constantly prepared, and the children of our land have sung 'The Star-spangled Banner' with a new sjiirit and vigor. " I wish especially to commend the work of the Sons of Veterans. Their organization is one of noble purpose, and the results of their united efforts cannot fail to be a grand success. I woukl also call especial attention to the open- ing of the new educational institution, the Sons of Veterans Memorial University, on Sep- tember 10, at Mason City, la."
Mrs. Jones is honored in her native State, and has filled places of responsibility in other lines of work. She is one of the Trustees and chairman of the Book Conunittee of tlie Brad- ford Public Library, which was started at her suggestion. Its beginning was in 1874, when Mrs. Albert Bailey and Mrs. Jones went about from house to house, and jirocured subscrip- tions of one dollar each from sixty-three women to a fund for the purchase of books for a li- brary. In addition to the annual subscrip- tions, money was obtainetl by entertainments and lectures conducted by the association. The books were kept at the house of Mrs. Jones, who acted as librarian three years. At the dedication of the present building, the gift of John Lunn Woods, in 1895, the address was delivered by the Hon. J. H. Benton, Jr., of Boston, a former resident of Bradford. Re- ferring to the work of the Ladies" I^ibrary As- sociation, he said: "Who can measure the good which has resulted to this comnumity from this patient, persistent, un.selfish work of these wise and public-spirited women? They de- serve our jM-aise equally with him whose name this buiUling bears. While his name is car- ried upon the portals of your library, theirs should be borne upon tablets upon its walls, that in the years and generations to come those who enjoy the benefits may not forget how nuich they owe to those who made its existence possilile."
Mrs. Jones is a prominent member of the Daughters of American Revolution in 'ermont, 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.