Note: What Every Woman Should Know is a series on American Women’s History.

Fathers’ Day, like Mothers’ Day, was invented by a woman.  Ann Jarvis is responsible for Mother’s Day, an effort she began in 1912, which she later came to despise, as she thought that the holiday had become what she called a “Hallmark Holiday.” Sonora Smart Dodd is officially credited with starting Father’s Day in 1910, though her effort was not taken very seriously for many years. Woodrow Wilson signed Mothers’ Day into law, and Lyndon B. Johnson signed Fathers’ Day into law.

Mothers and fathers throughout history have often been the biggest influence on a child’s life, and the same is true today. There is no greater opportunity to have an impact in this world than to direct your children in your own values. Since today is Fathers’ Day, I thought I’d share with you how some fathers have had an impact on some of the famous daughters I’ve covered in this series.

Mercy Otis Warren was very much influenced by her father, Colonel Otis, and his experience. Colonel Otis influenced his daughter in every way. He was staunchly opposed to British rule of colonists, and his outspokenness led to several professional complications that led to financial uncertainty for the family.  He and his sons were lawyers, civil servants, and patriots, so you can imagine the things young Mercy Otis might have heard around her house as she grew up. The law books she had access to and the rhetoric she heard laid the foundation that led her to become “The Conscious of the American Revolution.”

Of course, her paternal experience also prepared her well for her views on the participation of women, which were ironic given her circumstances. Mercy Otis Warren was opposed to the equal participation of women in society, a view held by her father and by most Americans at the time. She believed this even though she herself participated rather profoundly in the founding of our country. Despite the inclusivity of the histories she wrote, the celebration of women and people of color who sacrificed so much for the founding of this country and which she documented from the beginning, Warren believed a woman’s place was in the home.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was also heavily influenced by her father. She is on the record saying that it was her father’s refusal to treat her with the respect that her brother got just by virtue of being male that led her to pursue equal rights for women. As a child, the young Cady loved her father and her brother immensely and wanted very much to join them in their study of law, which her father, Judge Cady, frowned upon. He told her in no uncertain terms that a career in law, or any career for that matter, was not an option for her, that she was to be married and produce children, which she did. She produced eight children, in fact, from her marriage to Henry Stanton. She bore these children even as she worked tirelessly on women’s rights.

Susan B. Anthony’s father was a special case for his time. Daniel Anthony was a 6^th generation Quaker, and he believed in the equal education of boys and girls. He sent his daughters to boarding schools, the same as the boys. This was, of course, highly unusual at the time. Quaker society was itself highly integrated along gender lines, unlike nearly every other group in American culture at the time. Quaker women were encouraged to speak up in church and to pursue mission work alongside men. This is the world that Susan B. Anthony was exposed to as a child, and it certainly had an impact. She gave her entire adult life to the abolition and women’s movements of the 19^th century, and traveled this country tirelessly, mostly walking in the early days, in her effort to change minds on these matters. Her father was not required by the punctilios of the time to encourage his daughters in any way, yet he did, and thankfully so. We were lucky to have Susan B. Anthony as a pioneer in women’s rights activism.

Alice Paul was also the product of a Quaker home and upbringing, and both her parents thought Alice was brighter and would go further than any of their other children (another girl and two boys). William Paul, who died suddenly when Alice Paul was 16 years old, was once quoted as saying, “If you want something hard and disagreeable done, I bank on Alice to do it.” That had to be the understatement of the century, considering that she would go on to spearhead the final push for electoral enfranchisement of women, and won the vote for us.

Coretta Scott King was lucky enough to have a strong father and mother. Her father, Obadiah Scott, was the first African-American in Marion, Alabama to own a truck and open a store. Obie Scott, as he was known until he died well into his 90s, was known as a good-natured and gregarious business man. In order to facilitate their childrens’ high school education (especially that of Coretta, who they recognized as a gifted child) the Scott’s rented a bus and personally drove all the black children from their area the nine miles to school every day. Their story of dedication and resourcefulness with their childrens’ education is now the stuff of legend. Coretta and Martin were married in the front yard of Obie Scott’s store.

As you can see, a father’s impact on a daughter cannot be overstated. Some of these fathers had an impact because they refused to allow their daughters to break out of the cultural bondage that held women in check for centuries, while others encouraged their daughters to pursue their paths in life despite this bondage. However these women came to have their own impact, one thing is certain: it began with their parents. If you are celebrating Fathers’ Day today, it might be worth thinking about how your own father had an impact on you, or, if you are a father, how you are impacting your children.