Harriet Tubman's family

Harriet Tubman (1822 – 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Tubman escaped slavery and rescued approximately 70 enslaved people, including members of her family and friends. Harriet Tubman's family includes her birth family; her two husbands, John Tubman and Nelson Davis; and her adopted daughter Gertie Davis.

Tubman's parents—Benjamin "Ben" Ross and Harriett “Rit" Greene Ross—were enslaved people who were owned by two different families. Their lives came together when Mary Pattison Brodess, Rit's owner, married Anthony Thompson. Ben Ross, owned by Thompson, met and married Rit Greene. They lived together until about 1823 or 1824, when Rit and their children went to the Brodess farm. Ben was a timber estimator and foreman and Rit was a domestic servant. After Ben was freed, he bought his wife's freedom. Ben was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and slaveholders were becoming suspicious of his role in escapes in the area. Tubman, having freed other family members, rescued her parents. After a short period in St. Catharines in Ontario, Canada, Tubman and her parents settled in the Auburn, New York area.

Tubman married a free man, John Tubman in 1844. In 1849, Tubman fled the area, believing that she was going to be sold. She returned to the area to bring John Tubman north with her, but he had already married another woman. Tubman operated a boarding house out of her home in Auburn and Nelson Davis boarded with her for three years before they were married in 1869. Davis fought during the American Civil War. They adopted a girl, Gertie, and operated several businesses out of their farm. They raised pigs and chickens, operating a farm selling eggs and butter.

She made 13 trips to Maryland to bring back her brothers and parents, other family members, friends and others. She did not know of the whereabout of her sisters, except Rachel who was separated from her children and died before the family could be reunited.