Nov. 26, 1862 Death of Susan B. Anthony’s father

One day in early November 1862, Susan B. Anthony and her father Daniel were reading and discussing antislavery newspapers when he suddenly began suffering acute pain in
All for Suffrage, Part 1

Susan B. Anthony’s family members were all for women’s suffrage, each in his or her own way. Some supported voting rights by actually casting ballots, while others supported campaigns for African-Americans and women to vote. Susan had a strong support system for her reform work.
This week in History: John Brown at Harpers Ferry

John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry shook the Anthony family’s roots when on this day in 1859 he broke into a federal arsenal in Virginia and was captured. Lucy and Daniel Anthony had raised
The Anthonys on President Lincoln

On April 14, 1865 President Lincoln suffered a fatal gunshot wound from John Wilkes Booth. The news of his death reached D.R. Anthony, his wife Annie, and his sister Susan where she was visiting them in Leavenworth. In her diary, Susan recorded that they attended different churches to hear the ministers’ pulpit commentary on the assassination. It’s […]
Posse Hunts John Brown

Why was D.R. Anthony so fiercely abolitionist? Events such as the following would have fueled his anger. Today’s post gives us a typical example of how proslavery forces treated John Brown, an antislavery man whom Anthony revered and probably knew. (D.R.’s brother Merritt had fought with Brown several years earlier in southern Kansas.) Living only […]
Anthonys’ Aftermath to Harper’s Ferry

John Brown’s fiasco at Harper’s Ferry galvanized the nation.
Behind the Scenes: Mary Brown

Part of the intent of this blog is to recognize spouses and other family members who lived in the shadow of famous people. One such person was Mary Ann Day, the second wife of abolitionist John Brown.
The Jury’s Still Out on John Brown

It’s one thing to admire someone and quite another to like him or her. This reality slapped me in the face when I visited the homestead of John Brown near Lake Placid, New York.
Daring Friends of Merritt and D.R. Anthony

Merritt Anthony, like his brother Daniel Read Anthony (D.R.), put aside the pacifism that is often associated with Quakerism and took up arms to free the slaves. In doing so, he joined one of America’s most radical and controversial opponents of slavery. John Brown went to Kansas in 1855 and immediately stirred things up. He […]
Casual Approach to a Wedding

Jacob Merritt Anthony’s wedding, unlike his brother’s, was anything but traditional.