State History

This article was created by the Greece Historical Society in September, 2018.

 The Greece Historical Society is pleased to announce that it was awarded a grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation to install an historic marker at the site of the summer home of nationally recognized woman’s suffrage activist Jean Brooks Greenleaf.  The Greenleaf home and farm was where Lake Shore Country Club is today.  The golf club’s owners Chuck and Dawn Hart graciously granted permission to have the maker installed on their property. The unveiling ceremony will be on Monday, October 8 at 10 a.m.  All are welcome to attend. (use northern most driveway of golf course, across the street from 1150 Greenleaf Rd..The grant was secured by GHS volunteer Maureen Whalen who came to greatly admire Jean Brooks Greenleaf when she curated last year’s museum exhibit “Winning the Vote: The Women of  Greece  Involved in the Suffrage Movement.”  

      Jean Brooks Greenleaf was born on October 1, 1831 in Bernardston, Massachusetts. She married Halbert S. Greenleaf, lock manufacturer (Yale and Greenleaf and later Sargent and Greenleaf) in 1862. The Greenleafs lived at 64 North Goodman Street, but spent their summers on their farm in Greece—what is today Lakeshore Country Club.  At that time the street was called Fleming Road; today it is Greenleaf Road.  From 1890-1896 she was the president of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. During her administration New York became the best organized state in the United States. While president, Jean traveled all over the state speaking to women and helping them organize. No group was too small. Thirteen women from Greece and Charlotte met at her summer home on September 15, 1892 and formed the Charlotte Political Equality Club.

     Woman Suffrage was the burning question of the NYS Constitutional Convention of 1894.  The Constitutional Amendment Campaign, chaired by Jean Brooks Greenleaf, worked tirelessly for months to present their cause to the delegates. “From January 1 to May 1, Mrs. Greenleaf with her corps of assistants worked from morning until night at the headquarters established at the home of [the Misses Anthony] in Rochester. As soon as the Constitution Convention convened, [Mrs. Greenleaf] moved to Albany where all through the heat of the summer the heart-wearing war was carried on. Nothing was left undone that could have been done…”

     She often shared the stage whether at state and local conventions, before congressional committees, or at the NYS constitutional convention with Susan B. Anthony.  She was not only a suffrage colleague of the Anthony sisters, but a close personal friend as well.   

     Jean Brooks Greenleaf lived long enough to see woman attain full suffrage in New York State on November 6, 1917, but did not live long enough to see the federal amendment passed.  She died March 2, 1918 at the age of 86. 

     Previously the Greece Historical Society, won a grant from the Pomeroy Foundation for a marker commemorating the Paddy Hill School. Since 2006, the William G. Pomeroy Foundation has funded over 540 historic markers in 51 New York counties encouraging communities to preserve their local history.