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Thornell Road Elementary Students project: Mary Jane Austin Agate

19th Amendment

Mary Jane Austin Agate was a charter member of the Pittsford Political Equality Club and was its first secretary. Her husband, John, was also a supporter of the movement.

Thornell Road Elementary 2019-2020 fourth-grade students in Toni Stevens-Oliver’s class recently completed a class project researching the lives of John Agate and his wife Mary, and information about their historic home, now the Canal Lamp Inn.  With the help of Pittsford Assistant Historian Vicki Masters Profitt, the project was based on the 1881 diary kept by Mary Agate, which is in the Town Historian’s collection.  The students focused on the malt business John ran with his brother William, the Agate’s historic house, and Mary’s interest in woman suffrage.

To learn more about Mary, visit their webpage https://agatezornowhouse.wixsite.com/mysite/mary-austin-agate. It includes information about her personal life and community life - and even view a "conversation" with Mary, her friends Susan B. Anthony and Mary Anthony, and a reporter from Thornell Road Elementary!