[citation needed] In 1867 Horace Greeley served as chair of the suffrage committee of the American Equal Rights Association convention.

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.

[6][8] After his death at age five from cholera, she hired the 11-year-old Kate Fox to stay at her house and contact him.

[6] She suffered from "consumptive lung disease" for the last 20 years of her life, and died from it on October 30, 1872, ten days after her 61st birthday.

[2][9] Her husband, who was running for President of the United States at the time, died a month later.