Stone family papers

Laura Stone (1910-1999) was born on May 13, 1910 and was the daughter of Arthur Fairbanks Stone and Helen Lincoln Stone. She was the youngest of four children. Eleanor Stone, Robert Stone, and Edith Stone Taft were her siblings. She graduated from the St. Johnsbury Academy (1928) and received her bachelor's degree from Boston University (1932). She served as a filing clerk through a WPA project in the US Immigration Record Office in Newport, Vermont and was hired as an assistant librarian at the Goodrich Library in that town in 1936. In 1941 she was promoted to head librarian, a position she filled until her retirement in 1967. At that point she relocated to Laguna Beach, California. She died in 1999.

Arthur Stone (1863-1944) was born in St. Johnsbury on February 18, 1863. He graduated from the St. Johnsbury Academy (1881) and Amherst College (1885). Following graduation, Stone worked for the Northampton Daily Review in Massachusetts for three years. He worked for the Fall River Evening News for a year before returning to St. Johnsbury to join his father at the Caledonian Record in 1889. In 1890, his father died and he served as editor of the paper for the next 25 years. He married Helen Lincoln on January 1st, 1890 in Northampton. He was known for his writing and public speaking and was active in many St. Johnsbury clubs and organizations. He was the author of several books, most notable among them Life of Henry Clay Ide and the four volume Vermont of Today, with its Historic Background, Attractions and People. He was presidential elector from Vermont in 1904, voting for Theodore Roosevelt, and Postmaster of St. Johnsbury from 1909-1912. He was St. Johnsbury's representative in the 1929 legislature and Caledonia County's state senator in 1931. He died in St. Johnsbury on September 2nd, 1944.

Helen Lincoln Stone was the daughter of Addison J. and Harriet (Bond) Lincoln of Northampton. In an autobiographical essay written in 1997 (Box 1:Folder 60), Laura Stone described her mother as "keenly interested in woman [sic.] suffrage," and recalls her marching in the local parade in support of this movement. She died in 1948.

Sarah Fairbanks Stone (1831-1909) was the daughter of Gov. Erastus and Lois Crossman Fairbanks and was born on June 13th, 1831. She received her education from the St. Johnsbury Academy, Round Hill Institute, and the Mt. Holyoke Seminary, which she graduated from in 1851. She taught briefly at the St. Johnsbury Academy, as an assistant to Headmaster James K. Colby. She married Charles Marshall Stone on May 4, 1858. She joined the North Congregational Church in 1850 and was an active member, holding several positions. She was one of the founding members of the St. Johnsbury Woman's Club. Her obituary (Box 1: Folder 19) reports that "during the 25 years which her husband edited the Caledonian she was a frequent though often unknown contributor to its columns." She and Charles Marshall had four children - Arthur Fairbanks Stone, Mary E. Stone, a third child, and Emily Louise Stone (who died at the age of 20 months). Sarah Fairbanks Stone died on March 11, 1909.

Charles Marshall Stone (1833-1890) was born on April 18, 1833 to Charles Stone and Sarah Wells of Lyndonville. At the age of 17 he left his father's farm to work as an apprentice at the Caledonian Record in St. Johnsbury, with its founder A.G. Chadwick. The paper changed hands several times until 1857, when C. M. Stone, then a partner, bought out George Rand to maintain sole interest of the paper. He died on March 12, 1890.

Erastus Fairbanks (1792-1864) held the office of Governor of the State of Vermont in 1852 and 1861. Additionally, he was the head of E. and T. Fairbanks and Co, the platform scale business he started with his brothers in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and served as President of the Passumpsic River Railroad. He married Lois Crossman. The two of them gave birth to nine children - Jane (1816-?), George (1819-1843), Horace (1820-1888), Charles (1821-?), Julia (1824-?), Franklin (1828-1895), Sarah (1831-1909), Emily (1833-?). and Ellen (1836-1852).