Cordelia A. Greene

Cordelia A. Greene (July 5, 1831 – January 28, 1905) was a 19th-century American physician, benefactor, and suffragist from Upstate New York. She was the founder and director of the Castile Sanitarium in Castile, New York. Greene published, Build Well, in 1885; her revision of it, The Art of Keeping Well, was published posthumously in 1906. A biography, The Story of the Life and Work of Cordelia A. Greene, M.D., was published in 1925. The Cordelia A. Greene Library in Castile was named in her honor.

Early life and education

Cordelia Agnes Greene was born in Lyons, New York, July 5, 1831. Her parents were Doctor Jabez Greene and his wife Phila. Her paternal and maternal ancestors were of New England birth and for generations had been Quakers. Her mother, a native of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, was a direct descendant of the Southwick family, of which Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick were early members. Her father was son of David Greene, of Rhode Island. Cordelia had three younger brothers, David, George and Frank. There were four women and fifty men in the graduating class. Cordelia's friendship with two of them, Dr. Marie Zakrzewska, of Boston, and Dr. Elizabeth Griselle, of Salem, Ohio, was life-long. It was housed temporarily in the town hall, for the permanent use of which she paid . On the completion of the fire-proof building, a transfer of the books occurred. The land on which the library building stands was a gift from Greene. She spent hundreds of dollars beautifying the grounds. Greene's endowment of paid the running expenses and bought new books.

Greene's biography, The Story of the Life and Work of Cordelia A. Greene, M.D., was published posthumously in 1925, by Elizabeth Putnam Gordon.

Selected works

Build Well: The Basis of Individual, Home, and National Elevation; Plain Truths Relating to the Obligations of Marriage and Parentage, 1885 (Text) Golden Anniversary 1849–1899: June the Twelfth : Castile, N.Y., 1899 (Text) The Art of Keeping Well: Or, Common Sense Hygiene for Adults and Children, 1906 (Text) The Castile Sanitarium Cook Book, 1911 (Text)

Brochures "The Perils of Moderate Drinking"