Harriet Tubman is usually pictured as the "Moses" of her people, a fearless woman in a headscarf clutching a pistol and leading enslaved people through the dark toward the North Star. It’s an iconic image. But it’s also a bit of a silhouette. We often forget she was a real person with a home, a marriage, and a complicated domestic life. One of the most common questions people ask when they start digging into the details of her life is simple: did Harriet Tubman have children?
The short answer is yes, she did, though probably not in the way you’re thinking. She didn't have biological children.
Harriet’s journey through motherhood was, like everything else in her life, shaped by the brutality of slavery and the hard-won peace of her later years in Auburn, New York. She lived through two marriages, years of intense physical trauma, and the constant stress of being a fugitive. It's a miracle she found the space to be a parent at all.
The Mystery of Her Biological Children
Most historians, including specialists like Kate Clifford Larson, author of Bound for the Promised Land, agree that Tubman never gave birth to any biological children. There isn't a single record—no baptismal certificates, no family Bible entries, no census data—suggesting she ever went through a pregnancy.
Why?
Honestly, we can only speculate.
When she was a teenager, an overseer threw a two-pound metal weight at another enslaved person, but it hit Harriet in the head instead. It fractured her skull. She suffered from seizures and "sleeping spells" (likely temporal lobe epilepsy) for the rest of her life. Some medical historians think this kind of severe physical trauma, combined with the extreme malnutrition and physical labor she endured while enslaved on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, might have affected her fertility.
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Then there’s her first marriage. In 1844, she married a free Black man named John Tubman. She was still enslaved; he was free. It was a precarious, stressful arrangement. When she finally escaped in 1849, she expected him to follow or wait for him. He didn’t. When she famously returned for him years later, she found he’d married another woman and had no interest in leaving with her. That heartbreak closed the door on any biological children from her first marriage.
Meeting Gertie: Tubman’s Adopted Daughter
So, if she didn't give birth, how did Harriet Tubman have children?
It happened much later. After the Civil War, Harriet settled in Auburn, New York. She had finally found a bit of stability. In 1869, she married a veteran named Nelson Davis. He was much younger than her—about twenty years younger, actually. Together, they decided to grow their family.
In 1874, they adopted a baby girl named Gertie.
Gertie is the "hidden" figure in Tubman’s biography. We don't know much about her early life or her biological parents, but we know she was the light of Harriet's later years. Imagine the contrast: the woman who spent her youth dodging slave catchers and wading through swamps was now spending her afternoons in a rocking chair with a toddler.
Life in the Tubman-Davis Household
Life in Auburn wasn't exactly a quiet retirement. Harriet’s house was a revolving door for anyone who needed help. She took in elderly people, orphans, and the "destitute."
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- She grew vegetables to feed the hungry.
- She raised pigs.
- She worked the land well into her 80s.
Gertie grew up in this environment of radical generosity. While Harriet was "General Tubman" to the world, to Gertie, she was just "Mama." Nelson Davis worked as a bricklayer and ran a small business from their property until he died of tuberculosis in 1888. After his death, Harriet and Gertie leaned on each other even more.
The Rumors of the "Secret" Daughter
There is a persistent story in some circles that Harriet did have a biological child during her time in the South. Some point to a young girl named Margaret Stewart, whom Harriet "retrieved" from Maryland in 1860.
Harriet went to great lengths to get Margaret. She claimed Margaret was the daughter of "distinguished" people and that she was bringing her North for a better life. Because Margaret was light-skinned and Harriet was so protective of her, some people whispered that Margaret was actually Harriet’s own daughter.
But the facts don't really back that up.
Most researchers believe Margaret was actually Harriet’s niece (the daughter of her brother). Harriet was known for being intense about family. She didn't just want to be free; she wanted her whole lineage to be free. Taking Margaret was likely an act of "kin-napping"—rescuing a relative from a life of bondage before they could be sold further South.
Why This Matters for Tubman’s Legacy
Understanding that Harriet Tubman chose motherhood through adoption tells us a lot about her character. She spent the first half of her life breaking chains. She spent the second half building a home.
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She lived her values.
She didn't need a biological connection to feel a sense of duty toward the next generation. This is a woman who saw the world as her family. When people asked her about her work, she often spoke in terms of "her people," but with Gertie, it was personal.
Harriet Tubman died in 1913. Gertie survived her, though she mostly stayed out of the public eye. She didn't write a memoir. She didn't go on speaking tours. She just lived the life her mother had fought so hard to make possible—a life of simple, quiet freedom.
Finding More Information
If you want to see the tangible side of this history, there are a few places that bring Harriet’s role as a mother and provider to life:
- The Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, NY: You can visit the actual property where Gertie was raised. Seeing the size of the kitchen and the garden helps you realize how much work Harriet put into domestic life.
- The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park: Located in Maryland, this site explains the family dynamics Harriet left behind and why she kept coming back for her nieces and nephews.
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: They hold many of the primary documents and letters that mention Harriet’s life in Auburn with Nelson and Gertie.
When you think about the question "did Harriet Tubman have children," don't just look for a birth certificate. Look at the life she built for Gertie and the dozens of other "children" she took in when they had nowhere else to go. Her motherhood was an act of resistance.
If you are researching Tubman for a project or just out of personal interest, focus on her post-war years. That is where the "human" Harriet lives. Most textbooks stop at 1865, but Harriet lived for nearly 50 more years. Those years in Auburn, raising a daughter and running a farm, are just as heroic as her time on the Underground Railroad. They show us what she was fighting for, not just what she was fighting against.