Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens

Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born in
the small village of Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. His father’s name
was John M. Clemens and his mother’s name was Jane Lampton. Mark was born
early and was very small. His mom and dad did not think he would live. Mark
Twain was the 6th child. He had four brothers and two sisters. His brothers’
names were Binary, Orin, Benjamin, and Pleasant. His sisters’ names were
Margaret and Pamela.
When Mark was four, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri where he
spent the rest of his childhood. Mark’s father had many jobs dreaming of wealth,
but struggled to feed his family. As a child Mark would sleep walk. He was also
very adventurous. Since he grew up on the Mississippi River, he saw Steamboats
arrive in town three times a day. They often brought circuses, shows, and
revivalists. It also meant there was a lot of violence. Mark witness gun fights and
other disturbing events.
Mark was very smart, but didn’t like school and felt it was dull. He won
many spelling bees. During one spelling bee he intentionally left out the first R in
February so a girl could win. When Mark was around 12, his father died and so
Mark dropped out of school to help support his family. Mark got a job at the local
paper as an apprentice printer. This gave him a good start in the newspaper
business. After a couple of years, he joined his brother Orion’s newspaper as a
printer and editorial assistant. This is where he developed his interest in writing
and gave him confidence as a teenager.
 Once Mark was an adult, he tried many different jobs. He became a
Riverboat pilot and was paid $250 a month. Later he attempted to be a
prospector and panned for gold and silver. When that failed, he went back to
writing. When mark twain was 26 he started to be a reporter in Virginia City,
Nevada. After a little bit he found he didn’t like just writing facts, so he started
stretching the truth and more people started reading his writing. He became
famous for his humorous and cleaver writing. Almost every day Mark would go
and write.
Mark again moved further west to San Francisco. There he worked as a
reporter. When he was writing for the newspapers, people looked forward to
reading his stories and articles. In San Francisco, he didn’t earn much money, but
he got his first big break as an author. A publication in New York published his
story, Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog. This story became popular and before
long it was published across America. One thing Mark struggled with is he had
trouble keeping an idea in his head long enough to finish a story. He often
became bored with the stories he started. Despite this, Mark Twain wrote nearly
30 books and hundreds of short stories. Before Mark started writing books, he
started to use his pen name of Mark Twain rather than his given name of Samuel
Clemens. Some of his books like Roughing It, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, were based on real events in his life.
Mark really liked writing books, he also loved writing short stories. Mark’s
first successful novel was The Innocents Abroad, published in 1869. Roughing It, a
story about when Mark and his brother were heading west, was published in
1872. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer published in 1876. The Prince and the
Pauper was published in 1881. Life on the Mississippi was published in 1883. The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was
published in 1884.
In 1870, Mark married Olivia Langdon. Mark couldn’t believe his luck and
wrote a friend: “I have the only sweetheart I have ever loved, she is the best girl”.
The lived in Buffalo, New York as well as Elmira, New York. Mark and Olivia had
four children, one son named Langdon and three daughters, Susy, Clara, and Jean.
Their family had some personal struggles. Their son Langdon died as a toddler.
Their daughter Susy also died of spinal meningitis when she was 24. Mark was in
a great depression after his daughter Susy died. In June of 1904, Olivia died after
a long illness. In Mark’s later years, he became bitter was insensitive to his
friends and loved ones. Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910 at the age of 74. He is
buried in Elmira, New York.
Some other interesting facts about Mark Twain are that he loved science,
wasn’t a very good businessman, and he also loved technology. Mark lived in
many places including Connecticut, New York, Mississippi, Nevada, and California.
Mark got a Master’s degree from Yale in 1888, and his Doctors of Letters degree
in 1901. Mark was the fastest typist in Missouri. The books that he was most
proud of were The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn. Another interesting fact is that you could see Halley’s Comet the year he
was born and the year he died. One last interesting fact is that Mark Twain 6 th
cousin is Landon Clements.