Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, at Steventon rectory in Hampshire, England. Her father, Reverend George Austen (1731-1805) was the rector at Steventon and had married Cassandra Leigh Austen (1739-1827), a daughter of a patrician family, in 1764. Austen was the youngest daughter of the large, closely-knit family, with six brothers and one sister. Austen was particularly close to her sister, Cassandra, and her brother, Henry, who became his sister’s literary agent.
