ANCESTRY AND BIOGRAPHY.

WE reproduce the following graceful tribute to the late Mrs. Charles B. Stuart, of Chicago, written by her son-in-law, Judge Henry M. Shepard. Mrs. Stuart was the mother of Mrs. Henry M. Shepard.

"There died in Chicago, January 31, 1899, in her seventyfifth year, Frances M. Stuart, a woman whose Christian virtues, varied accomplishments, buoyant life and lovely worth. will be recalled by many of the old residents of Bradford county. She was the widow of Colonel Charles B. Stuart, the eminent civil engineer, who was engineer-in-chief of the United States Navy during President Fillmore's administration, and, both before and afterwards, connected with many important public works, and in the War of the Rebellion was colonel of the Fiftieth New York Engineer Regiment.

"Her father, General Henry Welles, who died in 1833, was one of the foremost men of his time in Northern Pennsylvania, and his mansion, the 'Stone House,' situated on the point between the rivers, beyond the 'White Gate' which marked the entrance to his fine estate at the southern end of Main street in Athens, was the seat of extensive and bountiful hospitality, not only during his lifetime, but long afterwards under the supervision of his widow, Mrs. Sarah Welles, whose memory is revered by many who yet live in the 'old valley.' Mrs. Stuart's only sister, Susan, was married to Hon. Edward H. Perkins, then a young ensign in the navy, and now the most venerable and distinguished citizen of Athens.

"After the death of her husband, in 1881, Mrs. Stuart's home was, for the most part, with her daughter, Mrs. Henry M. Shepard, in Chicago, where she died.

"In the early part of her last illness, she asked me, her sonin-law, to publish over my own name a mention of her in the home of her youth in order that those who there remain with recollection of her might know she remembered them, and I do it with reverential and filial devotion, full of affectionate

regard for her and the happy days we spent together in my

home.

"The years of her residence in New York and Washington brought her into contact with the brightest and most prominent men and women of her time, and familiarized her with affairs far beyond the experience of most women. Such associations, added to great native capacity, highly cultivated by reading and study, made her an exceptionally brilliant and entertaining conversationalist, and there has seldom been a woman who combined so much versatility, elegance and ability. The history of the past was an open book to her, and current affairs were always of absorbing interest. Minute matters, as well as important ones, touched and lighted by her vivacious wit and brilliant speech, were made interesting to all who listened to her. She knew Latin and French well, and her early accomplishment in music was never forsaken. Every day when in health, until her last illness, she practiced and played upon the piano with the assiduity and enthusiasm of a young girl, and she knew and was fond of playing from memory all the familiar old tunes of half a century ago.

"From the time the women of our land began to be interested in the perpetuation of patriotism through the formation of hereditary societies, her zeal in the work was unflagging. Five of her ancestors were in the army of the War of the Revolution, and of those conspicuous in the colonial period were her Pynchon, Holyoke, Talcott, Denison, Avery, Edwards. Pitkin and Welles ancestors, all great names in early Massachusetts and Connecticut.

"But more than all, and better than all, she was always the lovely and tender woman, the devoted mother and the true friend. Words cannot describe the sweetness and unselfishness of her life to those she loved. The depths of her heart held an immeasureable wealth of kindness, interest and affection for her dear ones. Always having reasonable wealth, she was generous in sharing its benefits, and her good deeds, in abundance and unostentatiousness, were like falling leaves from the graceful shade tree.

"A life full of graceful and brilliant adornment and Christian usefulness has closed. But a few days before she requested her

daughter to read to her Tennyson's 'Crossing the Bar,' and as she died just after sunset, the beautiful sentiment of that poem shall close my communication:

"Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

When I put out to sea.

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam!

When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

When I embark.

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have cross'd the bar."

HENRY M. SHEPARD.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, February 5, 1899.

MRS. REBECCA RUSLING SCHUREMAN LAWALL. The George Taylor Chapter, of Eastern Pennsylvania, have elected to honorary membership Mrs. Rebecca Rusling Schureman Lawall, who was born at Cokesbury, New Jersey, August 10, 1824, and is a true Daughter of the American Revolution, being the daughter of John Schureman and his wife, Catharine Scott Loder.

John Schureman enlisted in the Revolutionary Army in the New Jersey State troops, serving as a private under Captain Allen and Colonel Malcolm, when he was but nineteen years old; serving nine months until the close of the war. Mrs. Lawall was his daughter by his third wife, and born when her father was about sixty-five years old, and was eight years old when her father died.

She was also the granddaughter of Lieutenant Robert Scott and Sarah Gardner, his wife.

Robert Scott enlisted July 9, 1776, in Captain John Arndt's