Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield Connecticut, and was the seventh of nine children.  Her father was a congregational minister named Lyman Beecher and Harriet's mother was Roxana Foote Beecher.  Roxana died when Harriet was five years old, and because of this loss, Harriet sympathized with slaves who lost their families. 

Harriet lived a very religious life since she was the daughter, wife, sister, and mother of preachers.  In 1832, the Stowe family moved to Cincinnati Ohio and Harriet spent 18 years there.  In 1836, she married Calvin Stowe.  Living across the river from Kentucky gave her a view of slavery at close range.  Harriet had six children and during the 1840's, she taught at a school for ex-slave children that the Beecher family ran.  In 1850, her husband accepted a position as a professor at Bowdoin College in Maine and the family moved to New England where she began writing her novel.  The book sold more copies than any other book in history to date besides the Bible.  In 1856, she wrote a second antislavery novel called "Dred, A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp." Afterwards, she wrote several lesser known novels about New England. In 1896, she died peacefully in her home in Hartford Connecticut.