Eva Gillam Emmons

(1853–1939) Born in Port Byron, NY, Eva was the mother of two biological children and one foster child. A founding member of the Pittsford Political Equality Club, she lived at 10 North Main Street where she and her husband ran a thriving greenhouse business.

Eva exemplified the civic engagement that was a part of many suffragists’ lives. In addition to working to win women the right to vote, among other interests, Eva was also an active member of the Cheerful Workers of the King’s Daughters, an organization that supported homes for aging women and was founded on the principle of service to others. Its motto was “Look up, not down; Look forward, not back; Look out, not in; Lend a hand.”

In addition Eva was a member of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, one of the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that “linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity.” Eva served as Treasurer.

And she was involved in Pittsford Grange, which focused on the economic and political well-being of agricultural communities. In 1902 the Pittsford Grange No. 424 installed new officers, which included five women. The Grange was an unusual fraternal organization because it allowed women to be members and to hold office. (courtesy of www.townofpittsford.org/19thAcentennial)