Profile Text
Birth Name: Harriet Elisabeth Beecher
Date of Birth: June 14, 1811
Place of Birth: Litchfield, Connecticut, U.S.
Date of Death: July 1, 1896
Place of Death: Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Ethnicity: English, as well as distant Irish, remote Cornish
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist. She wrote the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), which was influential in driving forward anti-slavery opinions. Overall, she wrote some 30 books. She was also credited as Christopher Crowfield.
Harriet was the daughter of Roxana (Foote) and The Rev. Lyman Beecher, a Prebysterian/Calvinist minister, who was President of Lane Theological Seminary. She was of entirely early Colonial American descent, with deep roots in Connecticut. Her siblings included educator and women’s education proponent Catharine Beecher; dyspeptic minister William Henry Beecher; theologian Edward Beecher; Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, speaker, and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, whose wife was author Eunice White Beecher; minister, author, and religious hymn composer Charles Beecher; suffragist leader, lecturer, and social activist Isabella Beecher Hooker, whose husband was lawyer and judge John Hooker; Congregationlist preacher and school principal Thomas K. Beecher; and Congregationalist minister and Union Army colonel James Chaplin Beecher.
She was married to Biblical scholar Calvin Ellis Stowe, until his death, with whom she had seven children.
Harriet’s paternal grandfather was David Beecher, a blacksmith (the son of Nathaniel Beecher and Sarah Sperry). David was born in New Haven, New Haven Co., Connecticut, to parents who were also born in the town. Nathaniel was the son of Joseph Beecher and Lydia Roberts. Sarah was the daughter of Ebenezer Sperry and Abigail Dickerman.
Harriet’s paternal grandmother was Esther Hawley Lyman (the daughter of John Lyman and Hope Hawley). Esther was born in Connecticut. John was born in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts, the son of Ebenezer Lyman and Experience Pomeroy. Hope was the daughter of Jehial Hawley and Hope Stow.
Harriet’s maternal grandfather was Eli Foote (the son of Daniel Foote and Margaret Parsons). Eli was born in Connecticut. Daniel was born in Colchester, New London, Connecticut, the son of Nathaniel Foote and Ann Clarke. Margaret was born in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts, the daughter of Ebenezer Parsons, Jr. and Martha Ely.
Harriet’s maternal grandmother was Roxana Ward (the daughter of General Andrew Ward and Diana Hubbard). Roxana was born in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut, to parents who were also born in the town. Andrew fought in the Revolutionary War. He was the son of Andrew Ward and Elizabeth Fowler. Diana was the daughter of Daniel Hubbard III and Diana Ward.
Sources: Genealogies of Harriet Beecher Stowe – https://famouskin.com https://www.geni.com https://www.findagrave.com