Birth
Although Samuel was known as Mark
Twain to the public, his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was born on November 30, 1835 in
Florida, Missouri. He became accustomed
to being called Sam as a nickname when he was younger. Sam’s father moved them from Kentucky
to Florida, Missouri before Sam was born.
Since Sam was born two months early he was frail and sickly until the
age of four. They then moved four
miles west of town to Hannibal, Missouri.
Childhood
When they moved to Hannibal, the
river’s “spell” is what shows up in Twain’s books. He witnessed many murders, Indian massacres and hangings
along the river. When he was
twelve his father died of pneumonia.
The death of his father almost drove the family to the brink of
poverty. After the death of his
father Mark’s formal education ended all together. His brother, Orion, started his own weekly newspaper so Sam
completed his apprenticeship there.
His apprenticeship ended up inspiring him to try journalism. His first real humorous piece of writing
was called “Pseudonym Devil.”
Birth Order
Mark was the sixth of seven
children. Unfortunately only three
of his siblings survived childhood.
He had a brother Orion, a brother Henry, who died in a riverboat
accident and his sister Pamela. He
also had a sister Margaret, who died when Twain was three-years-old, Benjamin
who died three years later and another brother, Pleasant who died at six months
old.
Hobbies
Since Mark grew up on the river is
hobbies revolved around that. At
first he became and apprentice for his brother’s newspaper. His articles always had something to do
with what happened around the river and readers enjoyed them. After awhile Twain decided that he
wanted to travel the world. In
1857, he traveled to South America where his hobbies changed once again. He decided he wanted to be a riverboat
pilot and that’s exactly what he did.
Finally in 1862, he became a full-time writer for the enterprise.
Anecdotes
When Mark started his riverboat
apprenticeship he had a little accident.
He always had an urge for adventure. To pass the time on the river, he would race other
riverboats. On time while racing
he caused a boat to blow up. In
the accident, Twain ended up killing hundreds of people including his
brother.
When he traveled Europe and the
Italy Land he had many experiences that were the basis of his first major book.
Career
Reason For Fame
The reason why Mark Twain was so
famous was because of the books he wrote.
He has multiple books that were successful, but he had a couple that
really put his name out there. In
1876, Twain wrote “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” The book reflected how he saw his childhood on the
river. All the violence, slaves
and adventures are included. Then
in 1884, he wrote a sequel called “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” This book was soon used in classrooms
across America.
Later Life/Old Age
In his later life, Twain lost
almost all of the money he made from all of the books he wrote. In 1894, he began the lecture circuit
that was an around-the-world tour.
Twain didn’t love his last years very happily due to the death of his
daughter, wife and many close friends.
Death
On April 21, 1910 Mark Twain ended
up dying of a heart attack. He is
buried in his wife’s family plot in Elmira.
