Jose Rizal was born on a Wednesday midnight, June 19, 1861, in the town of Calamba, Laguna. His father, Don Francisco Mercado Rizal came from Binan, Laguna; while his mother Dona Teodora Alonso y Quintos, came from Sta. Cruz, Manila.

The first teacher of Rizal was his mother. At the age of 3, he learned the alphabet from his mother; at 5, while learning to read and write, he already showed inclinations to be an artist.

He was the seventh child is a family of 11 children (2 boys and 9 girls) namely: Saturnina, Paciano, Narcisa, Olimpia, Lucia, Maria, Jose, Concepcion, Josefa, Trinidad, and Soledad.

With his father, Jose Rizal made a pilgrimage to Antipolo to fulfill the vow made by his mother to take the child to the Shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo should she and her child survive the ordeal of delivery which nearly caused his mother's life.

In 1869, the eight-year-old Jose Rizal wrote his first Tagalog poem. Entitled “Sa aking mga Kabata”.

Jose had a pony and used to take long rides through all the surrounding country. Besides these horseback expeditions, his companion was his big black dog, Usman.