during the eighteenth
century. Both Reads and Richardsons removed to Cheshire, Mass., before
1770, and Daniel and Susannah were married there. It was but a few
months after this marriage when the first gun was fired at Lexington
and the whole country was ablaze with excitement. At the close of the
sermon, on a bright spring morning, the old minister, his voice
trembling with patriotic fervor, asked every man who was ready to
enlist in the Continental army to stand forth, and Daniel Read was the
first to step out into the aisle of the little meeting-house. Leaving
the girl-bride he entered the service and soon became conspicuous for
his bravery. He was one of the memorable expedition against Quebec
under Arnold, in 1775, and of the party commanded by Ethan Allen at the
capture of Ticonderoga. He was among that brave band from Cheshire
(Stafford's Hill) who fought under Colonel Stafford at Bennington. On
the 19th of October, 1780, he took part in the fatal fight of Stone
Arabia, under Col. John Brown, and served with honor throughout the
war. It was several years after peace had been declared and he had
returned home and settled down to the quiet life of a New England
farmer that, December 2, 1793, was born Lucy, the mother of Susan B.
Anthony.

[Illustration: THE "OLD HIVE," ADAMS, MASS.

BIRTHPLACE OF DANIEL, FATHER OF SUSAN B. ANTHONY.]

Daniel Read was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1814 and
was elected to various public offices. He was a Whig in politics and
adhered always to staunch republican principles, but rose above
partisanship and was universally respected. Daniel and Susannah were
thrifty New England Puritans, leading members of the Baptist
denomination and parishioners of the widely known Elder Leland. The
cooking for Sunday always was done on Saturday, and the greater part of
every Sunday, regardless of weather, was spent at church. They and
their children sat through a service of two hours in the morning, ate a
generous lunch at the noon intermission, and were ready for another two
hours' sermon in the afternoon, through all the heat of summer and the
terrible cold of New England winter.

Susannah Read remained always a devout and consistent Baptist, but
Daniel became, in later years, a thorough Universalist. Murray, the
founder of this church in England, had come to the Colonies before the
Revolutionary War, and by the close of the century the Universalists
were organized as a sect,