austen was born in 1773 in steventon, hampshire. her father was the rev. george austen (1731–1805), and her mother was cassandra, "née" leigh (1739–1827). there were 8 austen children. as cassandra and jane were the only girls they kept up an especially close friendship through their entire lives. over 100 letters addressed to cassandra from jane are still kept. these letters have helped historians to find out more details about the life of jane austen. when cassandra went to school, jane followed her. at first it was arranged that jane was not to go, as she was considered to be too young for schooling. however, she ended up going with cassandra. in their mother's words, "if cassandra's head had been going to be cut off, jane would have hers cut off too".