Mary Young Cheney Greeley (October 20, 1811 – October 29, 1872) was an American schoolteacher, suffragist, and spiritualist. She was also the wife of newspaper editor

Horace Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811 – November 29, 1872) was an American newspaper editor and publisher who was the founder and newspaper editor, editor of the ''New-York Tribune''. Long active in politics, he served briefly as a congressm ...

Life

Greeley was born as Mary Young Cheney on October 20, 1811. Little is known of her early life. She was briefly a schoolteacher, and later an intermittent suffragist and

spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...

. She is reported to have been mentally unstable for much of her life. The date of her birth is uncertain, with some sources stating 1811 and others 1814. She married

Warrenton, North Carolina Warrenton is a town in, and the county seat of, Warren County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 862 at the 2010 census. Warrenton, now served by U.S. routes 158 and 401, was founded in 1779. It became one of the wealthiest towns ...

, on July 5, 1836. Early in their marriage he used her $5000 in savings to fund his first private newspaper. In 1867 Horace Greeley served as chair of the suffrage committee of the

American Equal Rights Association The American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was formed in 1866 in the United States. According to its constitution, its purpose was "to secure Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color o ...

convention. Horace Greeley was in favor of African American men gaining the right to vote, but did not support voting rights for women. He was unaware that his wife, Mary Greeley, had signed a petition in favor of women's suffrage and was made aware of that fact when it was announced on the floor of the convention. The marriage was not a happy one, and her oppressive relationship with her husband colored her life. He had little say in the running of the house, and avoided his wife and their house. However, he kept her almost constantly pregnant, but took no responsibility for the children. Five of their seven children died quite young, at least some of them of neglect: firstborn son (born and died in 1838), second son (born and died in 1840), Arthur Young Greeley (1844–1849), Mary Inez Greeley (born and died in 1847), and Raphael Uhland Greeley (1851–1857). Mary also suffered at least two miscarriages, both in 1839. Only two children lived to adulthood: Ida Lillian Greeley Smith (1848–1882) and Gabrielle Rosamond Greeley Clendenin (1857–1937). Mary Greeley was an advocate of the

Graham Diet Sylvester Graham (July 5, 1794 – September 11, 1851) was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread. His preaching inspired the graham ...

and a

Spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...

. Her behavior suggests she may have had

clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...

and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. She believed her son Arthur Young Greeley, known as "Pickie", was a

spirit medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

. She kept him isolated from the world and from other children, and constantly demanded that he relay communications from the afterlife. As he grew older he began to express a fierce anger towards his mother.Marvin Olasky,
Central Ideas in the Development of American Journalism: A Narrative History
' (Routledge, 2015), chapter 7. Entire text online at worldmag.com. After his death at age five from cholera, she hired the 11-year-old

Kate Fox Kate Fox is a British social anthropologist, co-director of the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) and a Fellow of the Institute for Cultural Research. She has written several books, including '' Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of Engli ...

to stay at her house and contact him. Ms. Fox later wrote that she too disliked Mrs. Greeley intensely.

Death

She suffered from " consumptive lung disease" for the last 20 years of her life, and died from it on October 29, 1872. Her husband, who was running for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

at the time, died 31 days later.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greeley, Mary Year of birth uncertain 1810s births 1872 deaths 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis American spiritualists American suffragists Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state) Horace Greeley People from Litchfield, Connecticut Spouses of New York (state) politicians