Lyman was appointed President of Lane Theological Seminary. In the summer of , Stowe experienced for the first time the sorrow of many 19th century parents when her month-old son, Samuel Charles Stowe, died of cholera. The Stowe family moved and lived in Brunswick until The Beechers and the Stowes knew that racial equality required more than legislation; it also required education. Newly expanded railroads made shipping citrus fruits north a potentially lucrative business. Stowe purchased an orange grove which she hoped her son Frederick would manage.
Harriet Beecher Stowe loved Florida, comparing its soft climate to Italy, and she published Palmetto Leaves , describing the beauties and advantages of the state.
She continued to write and work to improve society for most of her days. After his retirement, the family moved to Hartford, CT. There, Harriet Beecher Stowe built her dream house, Oakholm, in Nook Farm, a neighborhood full of friends and relatives.
Her famous siblings include elder sister Catherine 11 years her senior , and Henry Ward Beecher, the famous preacher and reformer. At age eight, she began her education at the Litchfield Female Academy. Stowe became a teacher, working from to at the Hartford Female Seminary.
There, she met some of the great minds and reformers of the day, including noted abolitionists. Smitten with the landscape of the West, she published her first book, Primary Geography , in , which celebrated the diverse cultures and vistas she encountered.
In , she met and married Calvin Stowe, a professor at the Lane Seminary. He encouraged her writing, they had seven children, and weathered financial and other problems during their decades-long union. She also wrote 30 books, covering a wide range of topics from homemaking to religion in nonfiction, as well as several novels. She later said that the loss of her child inspired great empathy for enslaved mothers who had their children sold away from them.
The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of , which legally compelled Northerners to return runaway slaves, infuriated Stowe and many in the North. It was later performed on stage and translated into dozens of languages. Stowe used her fame to petition to end slavery. She toured nationally and internationally, speaking about her book and donating some of what she earned to help the antislavery cause.
During the Civil War, Stowe became one of the most visible professional writers. Antislavery groups organized public events featuring her as the main attraction. In Glasgow, an audience of 2, gathered for seven hours to sing hymns, listen to speeches, and see what the famed American author actually looked like. When Stowe arrived, the crowd went wild. It seemed as though the next moment they would rise bodily and fly up. In the countryside, admirers lined the route waiting for her carriage.
She was showered with money and gifts for herself and for the cause. Stowe later had it inscribed with the date of abolition in the US: January 1, But it was the gift presented on May 7 that impressed Stowe. Barred from voting in either the Britain or the United States, women used petitions to bring political pressure. A popular souvenir print of Stowe sold in England, I told them I would shake hands for her all day, but her hand they should not pull of, for I did not see how she could get along with out.
By the increased pace of the carriage these encumbering admirers were gradually shaken off. Occasionally she took a few hours of respite, or her group would change travel routes at the last minute to avoid admirers.
Visiting the continent, she had more freedom to relax and sightsee, but the crowds still found her. We have had to be unflinching to prevent her being overwhelmed, both in Paris and Geneva…. After nearly four months of traveling, the party returned to London in September and boarded ship to return to the United States.
By then, though Stowe was still well known and recognized, the frenzy had died down. All rights reserved. In the North, the book stoked anti-slavery views. In some parts of the South, the book was illegal.
As it gained popularity, divisions between the North and South became further entrenched. By the mids, the Republican Party had formed to help prevent slavery from spreading. In , Calvin retired and moved his family to Hartford, Connecticut—their neighbor was Mark Twain —but the Stowes spent their winters in Mandarin, Florida. Stowe and her son Frederick established a plantation there and hired formerly enslaved people to work it. In , she wrote Palmetto Leaves , a memoir promoting Florida life.
Controversy and heartache found Stowe again in her later years. In , her article in The Atlantic accused English nobleman Lord Byron of an incestuous relationship with his half-sister that produced a child.
The scandal diminished her popularity with the British people. But no scandal ever reduced the massive impact her writings had on slavery and the literary world. Stowe died on July 2, , at her Connecticut home, surrounded by her family.
Catharine Esther Beecher. Harriet B. Ohio History Central. Harriet Beecher Stowe House. National Park Service. Harriet Beecher Stowe Obituary. Meet the Beecher Family.
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