SMITH, Miss Mary Belle, educator and temperance worker, born in that part of Middlefield, Conn., now known as Rockfall, 18th December, 1861. On her father's side she traces her descent from the early settlers of the country, through a long line of men who were identified with the mercantile and manufacturing interests of the country. On her mother's side is strongly patriotic blood, and members of her line have fought for their country in every war that has taken place since the lauding of the Pilgrims.
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MARY BELLE SMITH.
She received a careful moral and mental home training and has been from childhood a thorough student She was taught at home by her mother until ten years of age, when she was placed under the tuition of a teacher w hose instruction prepared her to take the entrance examination of Mount Holyoke College, from which institution she was graduated in 1886. After graduating, she entered her father's office as a practical accountant and remained for two years, having entire charge of his books and correspondence and acquiring a thorough business education. She devoted much of her time to Sunday-school and missionary work and became an active member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, having joined the young woman's organization while in college. She has held various offices in the local union, has been county secretary and State superintendent of press-work, and is the State reporter of Connecticut for the "Union Signal." From having occasional pupils at home, she became interested in teaching and is now engaged successfully in that work. She has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since childhood, and to it she is devotedly attached. Her home is in Rockfall.