Harriet Ann Jacobs was born at Edenton, North Carolina, in 1813 to Delilah, the daughter of Molly Horniblow (Aunt Martha), the slave of Margaret Horniblow, and to Daniel Jacobs, a carpenter, the slave of Dr. Andrew Knox. When she was only six years old, Jacobs' mother died, and Jacobs was taken into the household of her mistress, Margaret Horniblow, who taught her to read, spell, and sew. When she was 12, Margaret Horniblow died and willed Harriet to her five-year-old niece, Mary Matilda Norcom (Miss Emily). As a result, Harriet and her brother, John S. Jacobs (William) moved into the household of Dr. James Norcom (Dr. Flint). Shortly after Jacobs' arrival to the Norcom house, her father dies. Feeling sad and alone, Jacobs' life is made even more unbearable by Norcom's determination to make her his concubine. Desperate to escape Norcom, Jacobs entered into a sexual relationship with Samuel Tredwell Sawyer (Mr. Sands) at age 15, with whom she had two children: Joseph and Louisa Matilda (Ben and Ellen).
Undaunted, Norcom continued to pursue Jacobs. When she repeatedly rejected his advances, he sends her to work on a plantation several miles from Edenton. Secure in the knowledge that her children are safe with her grandmother, Jacobs adjusts to plantation life, but when she learns that Norcom plans to send her children to the plantation, she runs away, hiding out at the homes of friends, both black and white. Thinking she has escaped, Norcom sells Jacobs' children and brother to a slave trader, unaware that he is acting on behalf of Sawyer, who allows them to return to Jacobs' grandmother's house. Determined to be near her children, Jacobs spends seven years hiding in her grandmother's attic, where she passes the time sewing and reading the Bible.
