Editing Harriet Beecher Stowe (section)

===Later years===
Stowe purchased property in [[Mandarin (Jacksonville)|Mandarin]] near [[Jacksonville, Florida]]. In response to a newspaper article in 1873, she wrote, "I came to Florida the year after the war and held property in [[Duval County, Florida|Duval County]] ever since. In all this time I have not received even an incivility from any native Floridian."<ref>Mandarin Musical Society, "Harriet Beecher Stowe," http://www.mandarinmuseum.net/harriet-beecher-stowe</ref>

Stowe is controversial for her support of [[Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll]], whose grandfather had been a primary enforcer of the [[Highland Clearances]], the transformation of the remote Highlands of Scotland from a militia-based society to an agricultural one that supported far fewer people. The newly homeless moved to Canada, where very bitter accounts appeared. It was Stowe's assignment to refute them using evidence the Duchess provided, in Letter XVII Volume 1 of her travel memoir ''Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Harriet Beecher Stowe|title=Sunny memories of foreign lands|publisher=Phillips, Sampson, and Company|url=https://archive.org/details/sunnymemoriesoff01stow_0|year=1854|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sunnymemoriesoff01stow_0/page/301 301]–313}}</ref> Stowe was criticized for her seeming defense of the clearances.<ref>For a hostile account see Judie Newman, "Stowe's sunny memories of Highland slavery." in {{cite book|editor-first1=Janet |editor-last1=Beer |editor-first2=Bridget |editor-last2=Bennett |title=Special Relationships: Anglo-American Affinities and Antagonisms 1854–1936|url=http://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&collection=oapen&docid=341374#page=28|year=2002|publisher=Manchester University Press|pages=28–41}}</ref>

In 1868, Stowe became one of the first editors of ''[[Hearth and Home]]'' magazine, one of several new publications appealing to women; she departed after a year.<ref name="mott">Mott, Frank Luther. ''A History of American Magazine, 1865–1885'', p. 99 (1938)</ref> Stowe campaigned for the expansion of married women's rights, arguing in 1869 that:<ref>{{cite book|last=Homestead|first=Melissa J.|title=American Women Authors and Literary Property, 1822–1869 |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=NY|pages=29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36L3XxeevSEC&pg=PA29|isbn=978-1-139-44689-1}}</ref>

{{blockquote|[T]he position of a married woman&nbsp;... is, in many respects, precisely similar to that of the negro slave. She can make no contract and hold no property; whatever she inherits or earns becomes at that moment the property of her husband&nbsp;... Though he acquired a fortune through her, or though she earned a fortune through her talents, he is the sole master of it, and she cannot draw a penny&nbsp;... [I]n the English [[common law]] a married woman is nothing at all. She passes out of legal existence.}}

In the 1870s, Stowe's brother [[Henry Ward Beecher]] was accused of adultery, and became the subject of a national scandal. Unable to bear the public attacks on her brother, Stowe again fled to Florida but asked family members to send her newspaper reports.<ref>Applegate, Debby. ''The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher''. New York: Three Leaves Press, 2006: 444. {{ISBN|978-0-385-51397-5}}</ref> Through the affair, she remained loyal to her brother and believed he was innocent.<ref>McFarland, Philip. ''Loves of Harriet Beecher Stowe''. New York: Grove Press, 2007: 270. {{ISBN|978-0-8021-4390-7}}</ref>

After her return to Connecticut, Mrs. Stowe was among the founders of the Hartford Art School, which later became part of the [[University of Hartford]].

Following the death of her husband, Calvin Stowe, in 1886, Harriet started rapidly to decline in health. By 1888, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that as a result of dementia the 77-year-old Stowe started writing ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' over again. She imagined that she was engaged in the original composition, and for several hours every day she industriously used pen and paper, inscribing passages of the book almost exactly word for word. This was done unconsciously from memory, the author imagining that she composed the matter as she went along. To her diseased mind the story was brand new, and she frequently exhausted herself with labor that she regarded as freshly created.<ref>[http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=utc/responses/articles/n2ar19cm.xml&chunk.id=d12131e91&toc.depth=1&brand=default "Rewriting Uncle Tom"] Retrieved September 6, 2013.</ref>

[[Mark Twain]], a neighbor of Stowe's in Hartford, recalled her last years in the following passage of his autobiography:
<blockquote>Her mind had decayed, and she was a pathetic figure. She wandered about all the day long in the care of a muscular Irish woman. Among the colonists of our neighborhood the doors always stood open in pleasant weather. Mrs. Stowe entered them at her own free will, and as she was always softly slippered and generally full of animal spirits, she was able to deal in surprises, and she liked to do it. She would slip up behind a person who was deep in dreams and musings and fetch a war whoop that would jump that person out of his clothes.  And she had other moods. Sometimes we would hear gentle music in the drawing-room and would find her there at the piano singing ancient and melancholy songs with infinitely touching effect.<ref>{{cite book |title=Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Harriet Elinor |year=2010 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00twai_0/page/438 438–39] |isbn=978-0-520-26719-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00twai_0/page/438 }}</ref></blockquote>

Modern researchers now speculate that at the end of her life she was suffering from [[Alzheimer's disease]].{{sfn|Hedrick|1994|p=384}}{{Failed verification|date=January 2025|reason=Page 384 does not contain this information.}}

[[File:Stowe, Harriet Beecher grave.jpg|thumb|Harriet Beecher Stowe grave]]
Harriet Beecher Stowe died on July 1, 1896, in [[Hartford, Connecticut]], 17 days after her 85th birthday.
She is buried in the historic cemetery at [[Phillips Academy]] in [[Andover, Massachusetts]],<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 45342). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref> along with her husband and their son Henry Ellis.