Harriet Tubman spent some of her childhood on the farm once owned by Edward Brodess, where she experienced both the comforts of family and the cruelties of slavery. Born a few miles away on Anthony Thompson's plantation, she never knew her birthday, though evidence suggests she was born in March 1822. Her enslaved parents, Ben and Rit Ross, named her Araminta and called her Minty. By law, Edward Brodess owned Rit and all of her children, and after Minty was born he moved them to this farm while Ben had to remain on Thompson's plantation, separating the family. From the age of six, Minty was hired out by Brodess to work on nearby farms, where she suffered extreme loneliness and emotional distress during times away from her family. Like most slaves, she always lived with the possibility of being sold. She witnessed the agonized expressions of two of her sisters and the hopeless grief of her parents when Linah and Soph were handed over to slave traders from the Deep South, and she never saw them again. This was the harsh reality of being born into slavery.