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Stowe is Born
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher is born in Litchfield, Connecticut. She is one of ten children born to the famous Calvinist preacher Reverend Lyman Beecher and his wife, Roxana Foote Beecher. -
Mother Dies
Roxana Beecher dies of tuberculosis. Reverend Lyman Beecher is now a widower with six surviving children. He remarries a year later and fathers four more children with his new wife. -
Introduction to Slavery Controversy
Inspired by the political debate over whether the new state of Missouri should be a free or slave state, Lyman Beecher begins preaching forcefully against slavery. Young Harriet, not yet ten years old, is deeply affected by his reformist message. -
Moves to Cincinnati, Ohio
Harriet Beecher moves with her family to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her father has a job at Lane Theological Seminary. She joins a literary group known as the Semi-Colon Club and begins to hone her writing style. -
Marriage and Children
Harriet Beecher marries Calvin Stowe, a professor at Lane Theological Seminary. Later in the same year, she gives birth to their first two children, twin girls named Eliza and Harriet. -
3rd Child
The couple's third child, Henry Ellis Stowe, is born.Henry is their first son. -
4th Child
The fourth Stowe child, Frederick William, is born. He is their second son. -
5th Child, Book Published
Harriet Stowe gives birth to daughter Georgiana May. Her story collection The Mayflower is published. -
6th child
Harriet Beecher Stowe gives birth to the couple's sixth child, a baby called Charley. He dies of cholera at the age of eighteen months. -
7th Child; Move to Maine; Fugitive Slave Act
The couple's seventh and last child, son Charles Edward, is born. Calvin Stowe becomes a professor at Bowdoin College, causing the family to move to Brunswick, Maine. The Stowes are upset about the Fugitive Slave Act, a new law that makes it a crime to assist anyone escaping slavery. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin Published
Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. The horrors depicted in the novel outrage readers and spark heated political debate. Stowe becomes a hero of the growing abolitionist movement, while Southern critics attack her as a troublemaker. Calvin Stowe is appointed professor at the Andover Theological Seminary so the family moves to Andover, Massachusetts. -
Reaction
After critics accuse her of overplaying the agony of slavery in her novel, Stowe publishes the companion book A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin to rebut their criticisms. She is invited to speak about the novel in Great Britain. -
Dred- a Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp
Stowe travels a second time to Europe to talk about slavery and Uncle Tom's Cabin. She publishes her second novel, Dred, A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, which tells the story of an escaped slave. -
Later Works
Harrriet Beecher Stowe and her sister, Catharine Beecher, publish The American Woman's Home, a manual arguing for the respect and recognition of women's domestic work. Beecher Stowe also publishes the novel Old Town Folks. -
Loses Son, Home
Unable to keep up with the cost of maintaining their home, the Stowes sell Oakholm and move. Their son Frederick, a Civil War veteran and struggling alcoholic, moves to California and is never heard from again. -
Catherine
Older Sister Catherine Dies -
Husband Dies
Calvin Stowe Dies -
Brother Dies
Henry Ward Beecher Dies -
Daughter Dies
Georgiana dies -
Stowe Dies
Stowe dies at age 85.
