The Pines was sponsored by the Biddle family, who made a fortune as financiers in Philadelphia. The Biddles were connected in some way to the Spillmans, a prominent family of Fauquier County, Virginia. The Spillmans also contributed financially to The Pines. One of the Spillmans recruited Lavinia Hamilton, an affluent young woman who went by the name Binny, to go up to The Pines and contribute to its good work (and possibly make sure that Spillman funds were not being misused). Binny was first cousin to the Chilton brothers, Samuel, George, Taylor (my grandfather), and John.

At The Pines, Binny befriended Gladys. Binny had the somewhat misguided intuition that Gladys would make a perfect match for her cousin George. She invited Gladys down to visit Hereford, the Chilton family farm. Gladys and George did not hit it off particularly well. George was the son who would carry on the family farm. Gladys was not particularly interested in abandoning her budding teaching career and moving to rural Virginia where no one shared her progressive political views. On that trip, she did meet George's younger brother Taylor. Taylor was a chemical engineer. He had either just moved to or was about to move to Philadelphia, the site of the company's headquarters. Taylor began to visit Gladys, both in Philadelphia and at The Pines. (How this latter was achieved is a little unclear as he was the dreaded unattached male at the time.)