When I first researched Susan and her family, I walked where they walked. Wearing a long skirt, wool cape, and boots, I trudged snow-clogged streets of old Rochester. A bit later, I was dismayed to learn that the Rochester home of Frederick Douglass no longer exists. Undeterred, I branched out to visit Seneca Falls, where she met her good friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Because of Susan’s many travels, the list of places to visit never seemed to end!
The Kansas connection
When I finally had the opportunity to visit the home of her brother D.R. in Leavenworth, KS, I set about walking where he walked. There was so much to see: the port of Leavenworth, the site of his home (now greatly remodeled), and the commercial district. I roamed the backcountry of Kansas and the town of Lawrence that he helped to settle with the Emigrant Aid Company.
Walking where Annie walked
Through Daniel, I met his wife Annie and from there took a leap back east to her home in Martha’s Vineyard. Questions began to form as I gazed out to sea from her home in Edgartown and as I visited the cliffs at what was then called Gayhead (now Aquinnah). My romantic imagination kicked in when I walked the winding paths of the Gingerbread Cottages.
Leavenworth, Kansas
Walking Leavenworth’s business district gave me a sense of the busy, moneyed man who was Daniel Read Anthony.
Annie’s birthplace
…in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard gave me a sense of her wealth and gentility.
Gingerbread Cottage
…in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, gave me a perfect setting for Daniel’s first mention of marriage to Annie