Caption: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) with Susan B. Anthony (standing)
"I wish you had been born a boy," said Daniel Cady to his daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cady was trying to comfort her father after her brother's funeral. Elizabeth crawled into her father's lap to tell him she would try to be all her brother had been. She was brokenhearted to hear her father say he valued boys more than girls.
Elizabeth Cady was born in Johnstown, New York, on November 12, 1815. She was the eighth of eleven children born to Daniel and Margaret Cady. Five of her brothers and sisters died before the age of five. Her brother Eleazar, died in 1826 just before graduating college. He was the only boy in the family. Learning how her father felt about girls after Eleazar's death changed her life. From that point on, she was determined to impress her father with her abilities.