I. Susan B. Anthony : A Biographical Introduction
Susan Brownell Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in
Adams, Massachusetts to Daniel and Lucy Anthony. Susan was
the second born of eight children in a strict Quaker family.
Her father, Daniel Anthony, was said to have been a stern
man, a Quaker Abolitionist and a cotton manufacturer born
near the conclusion of the eighteenth century. From what I
read, he believed in "guiding" his children, not in
'directing' them. Daniel Anthony did not allow his
offspring to experience the childish amusements of toys,
games, and music, which were seen as distractions from the
"inner light." Instead he enforced self-discipline,
principled convictions, and the belief in one's own
Each of my sources indicates that Susan was a precocious
child and she learned to read and write at the age of three.
In 1826, the Anthonys moved from Massachusetts to
Battensville, New York where Susan attended a district
school. When the teacher refused to teach Susan long
division, Susan was taken out of school and taught in a
"home school" set up by her father. The school was run by a
woman teacher, Mary Perkins. Perkins offered a new image of
womanhood to Susan and her sisters. She was independent and
educated and held a position that had traditionally been
reserved to young men. Ultimately, Susan was sent to
boarding school near Philadelphia. She taught at a female
academy and Quaker boarding school, in upstate New York from
1846-49. Afterwards, she settled in her
family home in Rochester, New York. It was here that she
began her first public crusade on behalf of temperance
Susan B. Anthony's first involvement in the world of
reform was in the temperance movement. This was one of the
first expressions of original feminism in the United States
and it dealt with the abuses of women and children who
suffered from alcoholic husbands. ...