Short answers, pulled from the story.
Jane Austen arrived in the world on the 16th of December 1775 within the quiet valley of Steventon, Hampshire. Her father George Austen wrote to his wife Cassandra that the newborn was a present plaything for Cassy and a future companion.
The family relied heavily on patronage from kin and hosted numerous visits from extended family members while their income remained modest with George earning £200 annually from his two livings. A skilled worker like a blacksmith might make about £100 while gentry families typically earned between £1,000 and £5,000.
At age twelve she wrote three short plays while teenage years brought poems and stories to amuse herself and family. She compiled twenty-nine early works from 1787 to 1793 into three bound notebooks containing 90,000 words now known as Juvenilia.
Five days later she expected an offer from him yet declared she would refuse unless he promised to give away his white coat while marriage offered practical advantages including providing parents comfortable old age giving Cassandra permanent home assisting brothers careers. By morning Austen realized mistake withdrawing acceptance leaving no contemporary letters describing feelings about this decision.
Died Winchester the 18th of July 1817 age forty-one buried north aisle nave Winchester Cathedral epitaph composed brother James praising personal qualities expressing hope salvation mentioning extraordinary endowments mind explicitly not achievements writer. Zachary Cope 1964 retrospective diagnosis listing Addison disease cause death although final illness described Hodgkin lymphoma.