Harriet Beecher 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.

1820

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.

1832

Moves to 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
1848

Son Dies in Infancy

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.
Mar 2, 1851

Work Begins on Uncle Tom's Cabin

During an anti-slavery sermon preached by the Rev. George E. Adams, Stowe envisions the plot of a novel depicting the cruelty of slavery. She rushes home after church and scribbles down all that she has pictured.
Dec 6, 1868

Slavery Outlawed

Congress adopts the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting slavery everywhere in the United States.

1869

Later Works

Harriet 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.
Jul 1, 1896

Harriet Beecher Stowe Dies

At the age of 85, Harriet Beecher Stowe dies in her sleep at her home in Hartford, Connecticut. She is buried at the Andover Chapel Cemetery.