Honoring A Neighbor . . .

. . . Born 190 Years Ago

Yesterday, Sunday, in Adams, Massachusetts, the birthplace home of the founder of the Women's Suffrage Movement in the late 1800s, and a leading figure in the adoption of the 19thAmendment, giving women the right to vote, became the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum.

For many years in my various writings I have often, jokingly, referred to that eminant lady as "my neighbor" but it is obvious that when she was born on February 15, 1820, we weren't neighbors.

For the time we each lived in Adams, long years apart, we merely shared Adams as "neighbors," she a native and me an itinerent worker there in the 60s and 70s.

From her home one could see mine across the valley and town and I could see her place from mine, both homes being situated on hills at nearly the same height, thus "neighbors."

Carol Crossed of Rochester, New York, president of Democrats for Life of America, an anti-abortion organization, said a member of Feminists For Life of America, an anti-abortion and feminists organization, will live in the house as director and manager of the museum.

That member is Sally Winn, an advocate for women and children who was
vice president of Feminsts for Life in Washington, D. C., and who was present Sunday with Ms.Crossed to dedicate the museum.

Eugene Michalenko, president of the Adams Historical Society, had for nearly 30 years, been advocating preservation of the Anthony birthplace as an attraction to Adams for tourists and history buffs.

Ms. Crossed bought the house for $164,000 in 2006 at an auction, after a previous couple had owned the house several years with the intention of doing something similar to the new museum but without achieving success.

During the dedication ceremony, a distant relative of Susan B. Anthony, Eric Anthony and his wife, Patricia, entertained the attendees with violin music.

By chance, the dedication the day before her birthday also happened to be the 90th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage Act, the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, the amendment which Ms. Anthony did not live to see. She died March 13, 1906.

The subsequent home of Susan B. Anthony is in Rochester, New York, coincidently Ms. Crossed' residence , and also is a city memorial. The entire Anthony family once of Adams, including Susan, is buried in a small hillside burial plot in Rochester, a site this blogger has visited and photographed.

The family includes Susan's father, Daniel. I mention this because most literature on the Anthony family, most all but Susan being Quakers, doesn't mention that he, too, was born in Adams in a house called "The Old Hive," which may NOT be the house of Susan's birth."

This makes me wonder if he was shunned by the Quakers because in a store he ran , according to other literature I have read, he sold liquor, a no-no with Quakers.

There's much more to be said and read of Susan B. Anthony than just her efforts that helped pass the 19th Amendment.

If any readers happen to find Adams, Massachusetts , [in the northwest part of the state] while traveling, a visit to the new museum will enlighten you. The museum is at 67 East Road.

A book on the lady and her life's efforts," Susan B. Anthony," by Alma Lutz, MAY be found in your local library.

A booklet, "Susan B. Anthony Birthplace As It Is Today," published in connection with the first day of issue in Adams of a six-cent Women's Suffrage postage stamp August 23, 1970 MAY [repeat - MAY] be available at the museum.

This, tonight, is my way of honoring "my neighbor."

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