Q: Daniel Anthony was one of the more colorful figures in the early days of Kansas. He was an abolitionist, a newspaper publisher, a gunfighter and the one-time mayor of Leavenworth. And while he was fairly famous in his day, his older sister became much more famous. Who was his sister, whose name is still recognized today?
A: Susan B. Anthony, the famous suffragist and activist for women's rights
Daniel Read Anthony was a newspaper publisher and abolitionist in the earliest days of Kansas, including its territorial days. Anthony ran the Leavenworth Times in Leavenworth as well as other area newspapers. One of eight children, Daniel's older sister was Susan B. Anthony, who became a leader in the women's suffrage movement.
Daniel Anthony first came to Kansas in 1854 as part of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company to fight against the expansion of slavery into the Kansas Territory. He settled in Leavenworth in 1857 and soon started the Leavenworth Conservative newspaper. He was also the town's postmaster. In 1861, another Kansas newspaper man called Anthony a coward. The two men later met up in a gunfight. Anthony won.
During the American Civil War, Anthony was a lieutenant colonel in the Union 7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry where he saw action in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama.
He was elected Leavenworth mayor in 1863.
In 1871, Anthony purchased the Leavenworth Times, the oldest daily newspaper in Kansas. He died in 1904 at the age of 80.