Home » Reading & Literature » Women Writers » The Little Lady Who Started the Great War

The Little Lady Who Started the Great War

© Megan Drummond

Harriet Beecher was born on June 14, 1811, in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was one of eleven children of Lyman Beecher, a prominent and influential Congregationalist minister, and Roxana Foote Beecher. Roxana, who died when Harriet was only five years old, was constantly striving to improve herself educationally and managed to instill this quality in her daughter before her death.

Harriet’s father encouraged an intellectual environment at home and often held family debates on the current issues of the day. Lyman Beecher also required a deep commitment o God and their faith from his children. The children did share their father’s religious commitment, but in a different way. They believed in a much more loving, caring and forgiving God and they believed that the best way to serve Him was by working toward a better world.

This was evidenced by Harriet in her writing career. Some of her siblings became active in the abolitionist and suffrage movements, and her sister Catharine founded many schools for young women at a time when women were not supposed to be educated.

Harriet was first a student and then a teacher at the Hartford Female Seminary, founded by Catharine in 1823. Catharine stressed the importance of written expression and her students, including Harriet, spent many hours composing essays. Harriet received an unusually fine education for a woman at the time because of Catharine’s diligence and teaching methods. Under her sister’s guidance, Harriet also began to develop her writing talent.

In 1832, Lyman Beecher became president of the Lane Theological Seminary and moved the family to Cincinnati, Ohio. It was here that Harriet met and married a widower named Calvin Stowe, a professor at Lane. Six of the Stowe’s seven children were born in Cincinnati.

While living in Cincinnati, Harriet became a member of the Semi-Colon Club, a local literary club where articles and stories were written and reviewed by other members. Her experiences in this club sharpened her writing skills and she began to publish short stories and magazine articles to supplement the family’s income. She also co-authored a book, Primary Geography for Children, with Catharine. After the book was published, Harriet received a commendation from the city’s bishop because the book painted a favorable picture of Catholicism and such religious tolerance from a Protestant was highly unusual at the time.

In 1850, Harriet’s husband took a teaching position with his alma mater, Bowdoin College, and moved his family to Brunswick Maine.

The copyright of the article The Little Lady Who Started the Great War in Women Writers is owned by . Permission to republish The Little Lady Who Started the Great War in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.