Her mother, Lucy, came from a family that fought in the American Revolution and served in the Massachusetts state government. as her middle initial because her namesake aunt Susan had married a man named Brownell. Anthony adopted "B." Susan B. Anthony, in full Susan Brownell Anthony, (born February 15, 1820, Adams, Massachusetts, U.S.—died March 13, 1906, Rochester, New York), American activist who was a pioneer crusader for the women’s suffrage movement in the United States and was president (1892–1900) of the National Woman Suffrage Association. Susan Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, to Daniel Anthony and Lucy Read in Adams, Massachusetts, the second-oldest of seven children. Anthony never used the name … Susan B. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. In her youth, she and her sisters responded to a "great craze for middle initials" by adding middle initials to their own names. She was named for her maternal grandmother Susanah, and for her father's sister Susan. Her father, Daniel, was a farmer and later a cotton mill owner and manager and was raised as a Quaker. Anthony was born on February 15, 1820, in Adams, Massachusetts.