Million Dollar Literature: Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life, Joan D. Hedrick, c. 1994

Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life, Joan D. Hedrick, c. 1994. BBEE.

Preface:
met President Lincoln, White House, 1862

Chapter One
New England Beginnings: 1811 - 1816

northwest corner of Connecticut, Litchfield
emphatically a New England town
Congregational Church
Federal-err town
the Tallmadge house waas built around the time of the American Revolution
just a block from Major Tallmadge's house: the Litchfield Female Academy, the first women's school in the nation

Chapter Two
Nutplains: 1811 - 1816

women writers, Virginia Woolf reminds us, remember through their mothers;
HSB's mother died when Harriet was between three and four years old
she did not recall her age correctly; Roxana died September 1816 when HBS was five years old
thus: it is obvious that Harriet's memories of her mother wwere susceptible to mythic reworkings
Nutplains: HBS's mother's childhood home in Guiford, CT, in an area called Nutplains; HBS visited with her mother

Chapter Three
Litchfield: 1816 - 1824

growing up in that household
HBS was trained with a military precision to come when called, to do as she waas told, to speak only when spoken to
as long as she was healthy, clothed, and fed, her caretakers assumed that all of her earthly wants were satisfied; listening to her questions, musings, and small childhood tragedies was a luxury for which they had no time
for sociability, HBS turned either to the books in her father's study or to the society of the kitchen help

Chapter Four
The Hartford Female Seminary: 1824 - 1827

September 3, 1824: the city of Hartford turned out to welcome General Lafayette; he had begun his triumphal tour of America two weeks earlier;
revered for his heroism at Yorktown; willingness to share hardships at Valley Forge

second paragraph
some time during this week, 13-year-old HBS arrived in the city with a carpetbag with all her worldly goods
she was embarking on a republican experiment in women's education
HFS: began in the spring, 1823; seven students in a single room above the White Horse harness shop
a system of mutual instruction

Chapter Five
Year of Decision: 1827 - 1828

first paragraph
generally women enterred HFS at age 15 and moved on after one to three years
HBS entered at age 13 (1824) and thus by 1827, ready to move on; but no clear path
by that age, she had received about the same education as a "man"
second paragraph
dilemma heightened for graduates of the HS
contradiction between education and "afterlife"
not every woman would marry and have children
HBS: women brought up to learn to "be useful"
unlike Sarah Porter who would train young ladies to be "useful wives."
fourth paragraph
1826: Lyman Beecher had moved to Boston to rout the Unitarians on their own turf
so, HBS heads to Boston; older sibs were established:
Edward: pastor, Park Street Church, Boston
William: studying
George: minister, Groton
Catherine and Mary: at the seminary
HBS: completely lost
1827: HFS expanded; HBS returned to HFS for the winter term to continue her studies and to begin her career as "Miss Harriet," a teacher

Chapter Six
A Republic of Women: 1829 - 1832

first paragraph
Catherine: the headmistress, founder, owner
over the first couple of years began to sort out and write down the school's mission
the events off December 1829 underscore the radical potential of Catherine's school
in spite of the disclaimer to avoid national politics, the women at HFS in fact organized on behalf of the Cherokee Indians, who in 1827 were ordered to vacate their lands in the state of Georgia; throughout 1829, Catharine and her students were deeply involved in circulating petitions and circulars protesting this federal action

Chapter Seven
The West: 1832 - 1833

first paragraph
Beechers emigrated to Cincinnati in 1832 (there were here for 20 years)
Lyman Beecher just past the prime of life
Cincinnati was poised for the enormous expansion that would make it by 1850 the sixth-largest city in America (wow!)
by 1830, population, 25,000; entering a 20-year boom to become the fastest-growing city in the nation
by 1840s, German immigrants; city swelled to 46,000; population growth continued with the arrival of the Irish, fleeing the potato famines between 1846 and 1849; Irish numbered 1,000 in Cincinnati in 1842; Irish numbered 14,000 by 1850
on the Ohio River; Ohio, Indiana -- huge opportunities for trade
world's largest pork packing industry; 1845: quarter-million hogs processed, exceeding even Ireland's pork industry
Beecher's moved back east in 1851; Cincinnati's population, 114,000; 46% were immigrants
this is the city to which Lyman Beecher took his evangelical Christian crusade
second paragraph
the West had a different meaning
Henry Ward Beecher was a student at Amherst College

Chapter Eight
Parlor Literature: 1833 - 1834

Chapter Nine
Courtship and Marriage: 1834 - 1836

first paragraph
Harriet, 22 years old
no romantic interests but siblings were concernred
unusual length and thoroughness of her education made her something of a "bluestocking."
in the forefront of women's education, Harriet was in a position that anticipated that of a later generation of college-educated young women who chose to follow a career than marry
Harriet: eight years in a female seminary shaped by Catharine's philosophy of independence and usefulness had not particularly fitted her for the marriage market;
.....
page 99: Calvin and Harriet began their married life with a separation, thus establish what became the pattern of their relationship ....

Million Dollar Literature