I'm a fifth cousin by marriage to Susan B. Anthony, but the bloodline of course is really through my husband. My search to find out the family connection to Susan B. Anthony goes back a decade at least when my mother in law, Doris Brollier Greenacre, asked me to help her prove that she really was related to her.
Doris prided herself in that relationship, but if she once knew where she connected she'd forgotten. Even in her latter years "women's rights" and "status" in the community was in the forefront of her life's work. I knew it was important to her and she had ignited that research bug in me to hunt down every connection in our family tree.
I took on that challenge right away because I was convinced that with a few clicks online I would be able to solve this mystery and make her so happy. Periodically she would ask me if I'd found "the link". I was so sorry to disappoint her, but began to doubt that there was a connection at all!
Just recently I was doing some online research for another part of the family and decided to see if there was anything new that would link our Anthony connection to the famous suffragate, Susan B. I found a free e-book produced by Project Gutenberg, a two volume biography of the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, by Ida Husted Harper. For the next few hours I added the detailed information of her family dates and relationships into my Legacy Genealogy program.
Later, after taking a break, I decided to click back through my genealogy program from my mother in law to see if the information I had entered had linked anyone. I could not believe it! Dr. Levi Anthony, my mother in law's great grandfather was a FIRST COUSIN to Susan B!
Unfortunately, Doris has been gone 8 years now, but I know she would have been so thrilled to know she was right. Genealogy research has given me some of the greatest fun through the years. Many, many times I have found a nugget of information that solved a family mystery. One of the keys in genealogy research though resides in the memories, pictures, family Bibles and those bits of paper tucked away in old trunks! If you think you might like to join in the genealogy fun, don't put it off--family memories pass away and those old letters and pictures fade and crumble!
