Jeanne Gehret's Blog: http://SusanBAnthonyFamily.com/, page 7

Susan B. Anthony’s brother mentioned often

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[image error]Why did I write a book about Susan B. Anthony’s brother, readers often want to know.

Well, I’m glad you asked. My interest in Daniel Read (D.R.) Anthony began about 20 years ago with scattered hints in Susan’s biography, letters, and diaries.

In 1992 I began working as a docent at Susan’s home in Rochester. My intense reading during that period culminated in the publication of the first edition of Susan B. Anthony And Justice For All. (That book was just revised–see the beautiful new Centennial Edition here.) After discovering that I resembled Susan physically in many ways, I began to portray her in costume (see below).

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During the next 15 years, I needed to keep my performances fresh. The best way to do that was to immerse myself periodically in whatever new Anthony material I could get my hands on. That led to such wonderful resources as the work of Ann Gordon and the Susan B. Anthony collection at the University of Rochester Rare Books Division, as well as the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum in Adams, Massachusetts.

Every now and then, I came across a tantalizing reference to Susan’s brother Daniel Read (D.R.) Anthony, whom she seemed to admire.

What Susan Said About D.R.:

he got married in January 1864;
he was mayor, postmaster, and publisher in Leavenworth, KS;
he enlisted her help in publishing his paper for several weeks;
she enjoyed carriage rides with his wife Annie in Kansas;
he offered advice when she published her own newspaper;
he gave her a press pass that allowed her to make a scene at the 1876 U.S. Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia;
she nursed him when he was shot in the neck;
he frequently visited Rochester;
he named one of his daughters after her.

The part about the gunshot wound seemed to sound a discordant note. After all, Susan and her siblings were raised as peace-loving Quakers. How did Daniel get shot, and why?

Later, I discovered that his wife Annie was 20 years younger than he. Before their marriage, he lived in Kansas and she lived in Martha’s Vineyard, some 1,500 miles apart. How did they meet? How did she like Kansas? And most important, how was she affected by the events before and after his gunshot?

My curiosity was piqued, and research during 2012-2016 answered many of my questions. Some facts, however, never surfaced, leaving fertile ground for a historical novel.

Top author photo taken in Leavenworth, KS in 2014.

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Life in the Finger Lakes review

We are pleased and honored that The Truth About Daniel was recently featured in Life in the Finger Lakes Magazine. The review praised the novel’s good pace, handling of critical historical events, and “careful attention…to mores and manners of the time.” See the complete review here, titled “Endurance, Determination, and Resolve.”

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Endurance, Determination and Resolve

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Meet Susan B. Anthony biographer

In this video Susan B. Anthony biographer Jeanne Gehret  explains how her time as a docent and re-enactor prepared to write Susan B. Anthony And Justice For All. Order on sale till 11 pm EST http://amzn.to/2yWp5VL

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S.B. Anthony family books on Kindle for 99 cents today

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Books about Susan B. Anthony and her brother Daniel R. Anthony

Today there’s a Kindle ebook offer of these two books for 99 cents each. If you’ve followed this blog, now’s the time to get them so you can enjoy the stories in their entirety.

Click here for Susan B. Anthony (Be sure to get the updated purple edition. the other was published in 1994)
Click here for The Truth About Daniel on Amazon Kindle

Tomorrow they go up to $1.99, and after that, they’re regularly priced at $2.99. Please tweet, like, and share at the top of this post. Thank you!

 

 

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All for Suffrage, part 2

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© SusanBAnthonyFamily.com

Susan B. Anthony’s five siblings, like her parents, were all for suffrage. They supported the right of every American citizen to vote, regardless of sex or race. (See my previous post about her parents.)

Today only, my two books about the Anthonys are on sale for just 99 cents on Kindle.

Susan B. Anthony And Justice For All is an easy read about Susan’s life.
The Truth About Daniel is the first in the historical novel Dauntless Series about her family, especially her brother Daniel Read Anthony.

Some Stories From My Books That Show the Anthonys All for Suffrage

Her three sisters all voted with her in November 5, 1872.
Mary Anthony, the youngest sister, was an active reformer in her own right. See previous post and this great article on Mary.
Her brother Daniel Read Anthony (D.R.) forcibly resisted pro-slavery ruffians who stormed the ballot boxes in Kansas and was a rabid Republican. Departing from his father’s beliefs, he served as a colonel in the Army during the Civil War. Only a calamity would have prevented him from voting.
Merritt, the other brother, also served in the Army and was a civic-minded citizen, so it seems likely he would have voted, too.

In short, the whole family sacrificed in words and deeds so that all U.S. citizens could participate in the government by voting. Susan and D.R. were the most vocal; D.R. and Merritt were the most militant. Don’t forget to go to the polls on Nov. 7 to exercise your precious right. Please tweet, share, and like this post at the top. Thanks.

 

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All for Suffrage, Part 1

[image error]Susan B. Anthony’s family members were all for 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. She had a strong support system for her reform work.

Universal Suffrage

Because the Anthonys were strongly abolitionist, they wanted all American citizens to vote, rather than just white men. For African-Americans, they harbored fugitives on the Underground Railroad and supported both Frederick Douglass and John Brown.

For woman suffrage, they supported Susan’s reform efforts with both money and labor. Her father contributed financially to Susan’s campaigns. Her youngest sister Mary kept the home on Madison Street and took care of their mother Lucy in her declining years. Mary also helped Susan prepare massive mailings and presided over Rochester’s Political Equality Club. Brother Daniel Read Anthony (D.R.) housed Susan during her two woman suffrage campaigns in Kansas and also provided considerable financial support.

Parental Influence

Susan’s father Daniel did not vote during her early years–and maybe never did. His Quaker pacifism.compelled him to resist a government that waged war. As a result, when it was time to pay taxes, he did not do so voluntarily. Instead, he presented his wallet to the tax collector and said, “Here, take it if you must.” Daniel Anthony Sr. died in 1862, in the midst of the Civil War and ten years before Susan cast her ballot. With his two sons serving for the Union, perhaps he reversed his policy on voting at the end of his life.

Lucy Anthony, mother of the clan, was a shy, retiring woman who stayed close to home and cheered on the rest of the family. She is not mentioned among those who voted with Susan in 1872. But for many years, she prepared weekly Sunday dinners for a band of antislavery Quakers. In other words, she voted with her feet!

This year, Americans go to the polls on Nov. 7. Get informed about your choices so you can cast your ballot.

Next time: Susan’s siblings and the vote

Read about my program entitled “All for Suffrage.”
Discover my series on the Anthony family (especially D.R.)
Check out my new biography of Susan B. Anthony

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Agitators Prevailed

[image error]The story of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass packed a full house tonight, the opening of “The Agitators.” Rochester’s famous reformers really showed their mettle at this fine play at GEVA Theater. Actors Madeleine Lambert and Cedric Mays delivered the pair’s famous arguments with conviction and humor against a massive timeline that resembled the double arches of the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Bridge in Rochester.

“Agitation is the spark of all change”

This is one of my favorite quotes from the play, and served as the theme to portray the lifelong friendship between these reformers. Especially moving were the scenes where the pair toured Frederick’s burned-out home; where they fought over the enfranchisement of black men before women; and where he begged Susan not to hold a women’s rights convention in a southern state where black women were not welcome.

Personally, I enjoyed the proslavery mob scene and the final vignette about Ida Wells, which both figured prominently in my book Susan B. Anthony And Justice For All.

Want to read more about these two revolutionaries? Get your own copy of this easy read that portrays Susan’s entire life. Great for students, too!

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Three Susan B. Anthony Events

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Jeanne Gehret as Susan B. Anthony

Three Susan B. Anthony events feature Jeanne Gehret, author of two books about the Anthony family. These programs honor the centennial of woman suffrage in NY state. Signups are essential at the libraries:

Tuesday, 7 pm., Perinton Historical Society, “All for Suffrage: the Kin of Susan B. Anthony” discusses how Susan’s entire family supported her reform work
Thursday, 7 pm, Brighton Memorial Library, “All for Suffrage: the Kin of Susan B. Anthony” 585-783-5300
http://www.brightonlibrary.org/
Saturday, 1 pm, Irondequoit Public Library, “Failure is Impossible” (re-enactment of Susan B. Anthony) 585-336-6060

Click here for a fuller description of those programs. Hope to see you there! ‎E

Books by Jeanne Gehret:

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This week in History: John Brown at Harpers Ferry

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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 Susan B., Daniel, and Merritt as pacifist Quakers. However, they frequently dined with abolitionist orator Frederick Douglass, who began agreeing with firebrand John Brown that racial equality would never occur without bloodshed.

Boots on the Ground to Support John Brown

Merritt Anthony, the youngest sibling of the group, moved to Kansas to fight with John Brown (1856). Then son Daniel (D.R.) also relocated to the border of Bleeding Kansas (1857) and is thought to have protected Brown as Brown was leaving for the East in January 1859. Therefore, it seems likely that this pacifist family considered the institution of slavery a greater evil than the violence Brown thought necessary to stamp it out.

When Brown was captured at Harper’s Ferry, he carried a note in his pocket with Douglass’ name on it, and federal officials quickly began searching Rochester to arrest Douglass. The orator escaped via the Underground Railroad on a horse borrowed from Henry Selden, who would later defend Susan for her “crime” of voting.

Financial and Political Support

When D.R. and Susan realized this sudden escape left the Douglass family without income, the Anthonys stepped in to provide for their friend’s family in his absence. Son Lewis said he didn’t know what the family would have done without the Anthonys’ assistance.

On the day Brown was hanged, Susan B. hosted a large memorial to honor the fallen abolitionist.

Read more about Brown and Harpers Ferry at

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Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass association recounted in new biography

Susan B. Anthony And Justice For All is out in its new edition and explores her long-term association with Frederick Douglass. This monument, titled “Let’s Have Tea,” depicts two of the main characters in the book.

A Multifaceted Friendship

Susan and Frederick were neighbors when both moved to Rochester in the 1840s; the Douglasses frequently dined at abolitionist gatherings at Susan’s farm home. The two worked tirelessly together for universal suffrage until a falling-out but were re-united in their old age. Read more about their friendship in my new book Susan B. Anthony And Justice For All: Suffrage Centennial Edition.

A Little Background on the Statues

When Susan’s brother Daniel died a rich man, he specifically left $1,000 for a memorial to Susan. Instead, however, she elected to spend the money on a woman suffrage campaign. (She outlived him by two years.) It wasn’t until 2002 that the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood Association in Rochester, NY commissioned Laotian immigrant Pepsy M. Kettavong to create the larger-than-life statues near Susan’s Madison Street home.

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