New women's museum at home of Susan B. Anthony

Freddie Mac Bank has donated the childhood home of Susan B. Anthony to New York State Parks Department for $1. Helise Flickstein, mother of five children, is the sole person who convinced the bank to donate the house has plans to make it into a museum. She had also gotten the house on the New York State & National Historic Register! She has the knowledge of five years of research behind her in regards to the Anthonys & the Stantons. Coline Jenkins, the great great grand daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the woman who held the first women's rights convention in 1848, has agreed to donate in writing 3,000 reproductions of women's suffrage to adorn the walls. Helise’s mother contacted Assemblyman Steven Englebright to help with the acquisition of the house and finalized the acquisition to the New York State Parks Department with Assemblyman Roy McDonald.

History of Battenville



The Susan B. Anthony House located at 2835 State Route 29 Greenwich, NY 12834. Susan Brownell Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts on February 15, 1820. Her father Daniel Anthony was offered a job by Judge John Mc Lean to move to Battenville to partner running the mill that he owned. Daniel and Lucy Anthony packed up their four children and moved in with the Mc Lean’s in 1826. Susan at the time was six years old. Judge Mc Lean assisted with the move along with his grandson Aaron Mc Lean. Hence, Susan’s older sister Gulema, Susan, and younger sister Hannah all played with Aaron while growing up. Her younger sister Mary Anthony was born in the Mc Lean house. Susan stayed at the Mc Lean House from ages six thru eight years old.



Two years later the Anthony’s moved out of the Mc Lean house into the temporary home only two houses down that Daniel built from 1828-1832 whereas Susan was eight thru twelve years old. Susan’s other sister was born in 1832. Her name was Eliza Teft Anthony. Eliza lived until she was two years old and had passed away in the Anthony's primary home in 1834 from Scarlet Fever. Her headstone was recently found at the Mc Lean house. There are three homes in between the mill and the Mc Lean residence that Daniel built for the workers at the mill.



The Anthony’s then moved into their primary residence in 1833. Susan just turned thirteen and lived there until the time she was nineteen years old. J.T. Merritt Anthony was born in the main house. However, the Panic of 1837 was catastrophic to the Anthony and Mc Lean household so much so that Daniel who now owned eight mills and other stores were all taken away in a bankruptcy in 1839. Every single item including clothing, her mother Lucy’s silver spoons, and even the family bible were sold. Lucy’s brother came to the rescue to purchase back their personal possessions for the family…however, the house and everything else was lost.



The Anthony’s then moved into a rented house in Hardscrabble and later renamed by Daniel Anthony, Center Falls. Daniel became the postmaster for the town and had two small gristmills next to the house. The house was used as a schoolhouse for boys and for other people to go dance in the grand ballroom in the upper part of the house. The Anthony’s stayed in Center Falls until 1845 and then moved to a farmhouse near Rochester.



In 1851, Susan met her best friend, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Elizabeth Cady grew up in Johnstown, New York only 59 miles away from where Susan lived in Battenville. Elizabeth Cady Stanton formulated the making of the women’s movement in 1840 with her mentor Lucretia Mott. In 1848, she held The First Women’s Right’s Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. However Elizabeth being the mother of three, and later on had a total of seven children, could only spread the word about women’s rights so far. When Susan came along, she made it her primary goal in life to spread the word about Women’s Rights and Suffrage all across the United States and aboard.