Stowe provides further details about her story based on actual events in A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Chapter 19:
The story of Prue was based on a story told to Stowe by her brother and sister. A woman brought biscuits or rusks to the house where they were boarding. When someone else brought the supplies to the house one day, Stowe’s sister questioned why “Prue” did not bring them. The answer to her question was the outcome of Prue’s story in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The full story of this connection can be read in Chapter XI, “Select Incidents of Lawful Trade” of A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Stowe dedicates a chapter in A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin to the “Spirit of St. Clare”. In this chapter, she publishes letters and editorials from Southerners who agreed with her portrayal of the South and had the same sentiment St. Clare had in this installment of the story.
The full story of this connection can be read in Chapter XIV, “The Spirit of St. Clare” of A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Uncle Tom's Cabin in the National Era 
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