Harriet Beecher Stowe was born at Litchfield, Connecticut. The first twelve years of her life were spent in the intellectual atmosphere of Litchfield, which was a famous resort of ministers, judges, lawyers and professional men of superior attainments. When about twelve, she went to Hartford, where her sister Catherine had opened a school. While there she was known as an absent-minded and moody young lady, odd in her manner and habits, but a fine scholar, excelling especially in the writing of compositions. In 1832, when her sister's health failed, she went to Cincinnati, to which place her father had removed, where they opened a school. On the fifth of January, 1836, she married Professor Calvin E. Stowe, a man of learning and distinction.

For several years previous to her marriage she had contributed occasionally to the periodical literature of the day, and gave promise of becoming noted among men and women of letters. At the meetings of the "Semicolon Club" in Cincinnati, she first became conscious of the power she could wield with her pen; and shortly after her marriage, published "The Mayflower," part of which had already appeared in the papers of the "Semicolon Club."

From this time, her life flowed quietly along for several years in domestic channels, until the passage of the fugitive slave law. Then, one definite purpose arose in her mind&emdash;to show up slavery as it really was and her earnest convictions at that time laid the corner stone for "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was first published as a serial in the "National Era." Within six months after its republication in book form, over one hundred and fifty thousand copies were sold. In England, two hundred and forty thousand were ordered by the booksellers in one month. It was translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Flemish, German, Polish, Magyar, Arabic, and Armenian.

In 1852, Mrs. Stowe took up her residence at Andover, and soon after went abroad to recuperate her exhausted strength. Her visit was one continuous ovation; and a year later, she gave to the public her "Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands." Subsequently she wrote "Dred: a Tale of the Dismal Swamp." "The Minister's wooing," "Agnes of Sorrento," and several novels of quiet domestic interest. This gifted woman has produced poetry, some of which has been published. It is chiefly religious and pathetic in character.

In 1864 Mrs. Stowe built a beautiful residence in Hartford, where she has since chiefly resided. She has spent her winters in Florida.

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe has been feeble of late, and rarely writes anything but brief letters to her friends. She did, however, for charity's sake, contribute a few lines to a paper published during the progress of a fair in Hartford. The contribution was short but amusing: "When I was eight years of age I had a favorite cat of which I was fond. Puss was attacked with fits, and in her paroxysms flew round the top of the wall, jumped on to our heads, and scratched and tumbled up our hair in a frightful way. My father shot her, and when she was cold and dead my former fondness returned. I wrapped her nicely in cloth, and got my brother to dig a grave and set up a flat stone for a monument. Then I went to my older sister Catherine, and asked her to write me an 'epithet' to put on the stone. She wrote:

Here lies poor Kit
Who had a fit,
And acted queer;
Killed with a gun,
Her race is run,
And she lies here.

It is doubtful if a book was ever written that attained such popularity in so short a time as did Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The thrilling story was eagerly read by rich and poor, by the educated and uneducated, eliciting from one and all heartfelt sympathy for the poor and abused negro of the south. It was, indeed, a veritable bombshell to slave-holders, who felt that such a work would be dangerous to the existence of slavery. And well had they cause to fear, for its timely appearance was undoubtedly the means of turning the tide of public feeling against the abominable curse of slavery.