The Clemens family "now became almost destitute," wrote biographer Everett Emerson, and was forced into years of economic struggle — a fact that would shape the career of Twain. Mark Zuckerberg is co-founder and CEO of the social-networking website Facebook, as well as one of the world's youngest billionaires. He was of Scots-Irish, English, and Cornish ancestry. His mother tried various allopathic and hydropathic remedies on him during those early years, and his recollections of those instances (along with other memories of his growing up) would eventually find their way into Tom Sawyer and other writings. Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. Missouri was a slave state, and, though the young Clemens had been reassured that chattel slavery was an institution approved by God, he nevertheless carried with him memories of cruelty and sadness that he would reflect upon in his maturity. His brother Pleasant Han… DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S MARK TWAIN FACT CARD. A few years after his birth, he would move to Hannibal, MO. "If he treasured Livy's comradeship as much as he often said, why did he spend so much time away from her?". Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. If you want to know what happened to him at this time you must read a book he wrote, Life on the Mississippi River. Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. Writing to a friend shortly after his wedding, Twain could not believe his good luck: "I have ... the only sweetheart I have ever loved ... she is the best girl, and the sweetest, and gentlest, and the daintiest, and she is the most perfect gem of womankind.". A licensed steamboat pilot by 1859, he soon found regular employment plying the shoals and channels of the great river. "Wheresoever she was, there was Eden," he wrote in tribute to her. A Short Biography of Mark Twain. In 1889, Twain published A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, a science-fiction/historical novel about ancient England. John Clemens’s death contributed further to the family’s financial instability. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. He spent his boyhood in nearby Hannibal, on the banks of the Mississippi River, observing its busy life, fascinated by its romance, but chilled by the violence and bloodshed it bred. In Old Times on the Mississippi (1875), he recalled his childhood in Hannibal with fondness. In 1847 Clemens’s father died of pneumonia. For many years, Twain's relationship with middle daughter Clara was distant and full of quarrels. Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. Livy, like many people during that time, took pride in her pious, high-minded, genteel approach to life. A Dog's Tale. Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, in the frontier village of Florida, Missouri. Twain was brought up in Hannibal, Missouri, a town on the great Mississippi River. He was the sixth of seven children of Jane (née Lampton; 1803–1890), a native of Kentucky, and John Marshall Clemens (1798–1847), a native of Virginia. He lavished many hours on this and other business ventures, and was certain that his efforts would be rewarded with enormous wealth, but he never achieved the success he expected. Though he had written many articles and had worke… Among those companions was Tom Blankenship, an affable but impoverished boy whom Twain later identified as the model for the character Huckleberry Finn. Mark Felt was an Associate Director at the FBI who became a secret informant and broke the Watergate story to reporters while disguised as "Deep Throat.". He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor. Mark Twain (a.k.a., Samuel Longhorne Clemens) was born in the little town of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, shortly after his family had moved there from Tennessee. Mark Twain was an American author known for his sharp wit and social commentary. Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the town of Florida, Missouri, in 1835. Clemens was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, the town that inspired the setting in some of his most popular works such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Hannibal inspired several of Twain's fictional locales, including "St. Petersburg" in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. "All modern American literature comes from one book by Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1935, giving short shrift to Herman Melville and others but making an interesting point. M ark Twain himself was Twain’s first successful work of fiction. A boy might swim or canoe to and explore Glasscock’s Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River, or he might visit the labyrinthine McDowell’s Cave, about 2 miles (3 km) south of town. Twain is widely considered one of the greatest American writers of all time. Mark Twain Biography. Biography takes you deep into the life of the great Mark Twain He was an unsmiling fellow; according to one legend, young Sam never saw his father laugh. Twain's fervent wish was to get rich, support his mother, rise socially and receive what he called "the respectful regard of a high Eastern civilization. Although the exact origins of the name are unknown, it is worth noting that Clemens operated riverboats, and mark twain is a nautical term for water found to be two fathoms (12 feet [3.7 metres]) deep: mark (measure) twain (two). Mark Twain: Background for His Works A short preview for a biography of Twain's early life. Mark Twain Biography - Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a famous and popular American humorist, novelist, writer and lecturer. As it turned out, Tom Blankenship’s older brother Bence had been secretly taking food to the runaway slave for some weeks before the slave was apparently discovered and killed. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mark-Twain, The State Historical Society of Missouri - Biography of Samuel L. Clemens, Mark Twain - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Mark Twain - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches”. "Much of the last decade of his life, he lived in hell," wrote Hamlin Hill. One evening in 1844 Clemens discovered a corpse in his father’s office; it was the body of a California emigrant who had been stabbed in a quarrel and was placed there for the inquest. Then there was the violence of Hannibal itself. Learn more about his biography, writing style, and major works. No doubt his temperament was affected by his worries over his financial situation, made all the more distressing by a series of business failures. Mark Twain passed away on April 21, 1910, but has a following still today. Mark Twain, the writer, adventurer and wily social critic born Samuel Clemens, wrote the novels 'Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’. These imaginary river towns are complex places: sunlit and exuberant on the one hand, but also vipers' nests of cruelty, poverty, drunkenness, loneliness and soul-crushing boredom — all parts of Twain's boyhood experience. As he remembered it in “Old Times on the Mississippi” (1875), the village was a “white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer’s morning,” until the arrival of a riverboat suddenly made it a hive of activity. Twain's first book, "The Innocents Abroad," was published in 1869, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" in 1876, and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in 1885. Apostle Saint Mark was one of Christ's 70 disciples, one of the four evangelists and the traditional author of the second Gospel, The Book of Mark. Those same adventures could be reenacted with his companions as well, and Clemens and his friends did play at being pirates, Robin Hood, and other fabled adventurers. Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. ", In February 1870, he improved his social status by marrying 24-year-old Olivia (Livy) Langdon, the daughter of a rich New York coal merchant. Where, he wondered then, would he find his future? Three years later his elder brother, Orion, bought the Hannibal Journal, and Twain began working for him as a typesetter. Mark Twain. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Twain stayed in Hannibal until age 17. He published his works with the pen name Mark Twain. Our Stores Are Open Book Annex Membership Educators Gift Cards Stores & Events Help Auto Suggestions are available once you type at least 3 letters. A Letter To The Secretary Of The Treasury. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. In July 1861, Twain climbed on board a stagecoach and headed for Nevada and California, where he would live for the next five years. At 34, this handsome, red-haired, affable, canny, egocentric and ambitious journalist and traveler had become one of the most popular and famous writers in America. "An indisputable and almost overwhelming sense of inferiority bounced around his psyche," wrote scholar Hamlin Hill, noting that these feelings were competing with his aggressiveness and vanity. “Afraid I wouldn’t live?” “No,” she said, “afraid you would.”. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. His youngest daughter, Jean, was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. Even before that year, however, continuing debts had forced them to auction off property, to sell their only slave, Jennie, to take in boarders, even to sell their furniture. Actor Hal Holbrook answers questions in the persona of Mark Twain. A Fable. After that, business and writing were of equal value to Twain as he set about his cardinal task of earning a lot of money. When he was four years old, his family moved to Hannibal, a town on the Mississippi River much like the towns depicted in his two most famous novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Twain became one of the best-known storytellers in the West. In 1869, The Innocents Abroad was published, and it became a nationwide bestseller. Mark Twain short biography. The last piece of writing he did, evidently, was the short humorous sketch “Etiquette for the Afterlife: Advice to Paine.” The sketch was published posthumously in 1995. He was the sixth of seven children born to John Clemens, a lawyer, and his wife Jane, although three of Samuel’s siblings died in childhood. Another cause of his angst, perhaps, was his unconscious anger at himself for not giving undivided attention to his deepest creative instincts, which centered on his Missouri boyhood. An actor reads his words. Twain's financial failings, reminiscent in some ways of his father's, had serious consequences for his state of mind. John Clemens, by all reports, was a serious man who seldom demonstrated affection. What venue would bring him both excitement and cash? A Helpless Situation. However, Twain worried about being a Westerner. This was an old term used by pilots to show how deep the water is where they throw the lead. He also wrote short stories, essays and several other books, including a study of Joan of Arc. Samuel Langhorne Clemens left Hannibal when he was 18 to work in New York City and Philadelphia. He started his career as a typesetter at a newspaper, worked as a printer, a riverboat pilot, and then turned to gold mining. In those years, the country's cultural life was dictated by an Eastern establishment centered in New York City and Boston — a straight-laced, Victorian, moneyed group that cowed Twain. - Mark Twain Biography and List of Works - Mark Twain Books Biography of Mark Twain A 5-part internet biography of Twain. A cholera epidemic a few years later killed at least 24 people, a substantial number for a small town. They contributed powerfully to a growing pessimism in him, a deep-down feeling that human existence is a cosmic joke perpetrated by a chuckling God. From there he went to Philadelphia and on to Washington, D.C.; then he returned to New York, only to find work hard to come by because of fires that destroyed two publishing houses. Twain also wrote numerous short stories, most notably “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (1865). My parents removed to Missouri in the early ’thir And the lives he might imagine for these living people could easily be embroidered by the romantic exploits he read in the works of James Fenimore Cooper, Sir Walter Scott, and others. Twain opted for the latter, joining the Confederate Army in June 1861 but serving for only a couple of weeks until his volunteer unit disbanded. When Huck Finn finally was published in 1884, Livy gave it a chilly reception. Twain is remembered as a great chronicler of American life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Omissions? Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (born November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, U.S.—died April 21, 1910, Redding, Connecticut), American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who acquired international fame for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), and for his adventure stories of … Perhaps it was a sign of the infant's rise to literary fame. It was the diminishing fortunes of the Clemens family that led them in 1839 to move 30 miles (50 km) east from Florida, Missouri, to the Mississippi River port town of Hannibal, where there were greater opportunities. A Humane Word From Satan. There were local diversions as well—fishing, picnicking, and swimming. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! A Monument To Adam. Some of his early sketches, such as “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter” (1852), circulated in local newspapers. Steamboats arrived there three times a day, tooting their whistles; circuses, minstrel shows and revivalists paid visits; a decent library was available; and tradesmen such as blacksmiths and tanners practiced their entertaining crafts for all to see. He honed a distinctive narrative style — friendly, funny, irreverent, often satirical and always eager to deflate the pretentious. In 1883 he put out Life on the Mississippi, an interesting but safe travel book. Bence’s act of courage and kindness served in some measure as a model for Huck’s decision to help the fugitive Jim in Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (born November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, U.S.—died April 21, 1910, Redding, Connecticut), American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who acquired international fame for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), and for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). A short biography of Mark Twain, author of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, written in easy-to-read English for younger readers. But absent or not, throughout 34 years of marriage, Twain had indeed loved his wife. Twain became somewhat bitter in his later years, even while projecting an amiable persona to his public. When he … Because he was sickly, Clemens was often coddled, particularly by his mother, and he developed early the tendency to test her indulgence through mischief, offering only his good nature as bond for the domestic crimes he was apt to commit. However, later in life he would go by his pseudonym, Mark Twain. A Burlesque Biography. Twain was of Cornish, English, and Scots-Irish descent. p C H A P T E R 1 I was born the 30 th of n ovember, 1835, in the almost invisible village of Florida, Missouri. Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Clemens. After the death of his father, Sam Clemens worked at several odd jobs in town, and in 1848 he became a printer’s apprentice for Joseph P. Ament’s Missouri Courier. In 1839 his family moved to the Mississippi port town of Hannibal in search of greater economic opportunities. His mother, by contrast, was a fun-loving, tenderhearted homemaker who whiled away many a winter's night for her family by telling stories. Huck Finn required years to conceptualize and write, and Twain often put it aside. Mark Rothko is best known as one of the central figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement in American art in the 1950s and '60s. He wrote a great many books and signed whatever he wrote with a queer name—MARK TWAIN. In this magisterial full-scale biography of America’s greatest storyteller and satirist, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Fred Kaplan refashions our image of Mark Twain and etches a vibrant portrait of a singular personality who created some of the … Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910. A Cure For The Blues. "The full nature of his feelings toward her is puzzling," wrote scholar R. Kent Rasmussen. After failing as a silver prospector‚ Sam began writing for the Territorial Enterprise‚ a Virginia City‚ Nevada newspaper where he used‚ for the first time‚ his pen name‚ Mark Twain. He lived sparingly in the Ament household but was allowed to continue his schooling and, from time to time, indulge in boyish amusements. Writing this work, commented biographer Everett Emerson, freed Twain temporarily from the "inhibitions of the culture he had chosen to embrace.". Co-founder of the successful startup Broadcast.com, Mark Cuban is known as the zealous owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and a star of the TV show 'Shark Tank.'. Twain loved his career — it was exciting, well-paying and high-status, roughly akin to flying a jetliner today. The gamblers, stevedores, and pilots, the boisterous raftsmen and elegant travelers, all bound for somewhere surely glamorous and exciting, would have impressed a young boy and stimulated his already active imagination. Only three of his siblings survived childhood: Orion(1825–1897), Henry (1838–1858), and Pamela (1827–1904). He got a big break in 1865, when one of his tales about life in a mining camp, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog," was printed in newspapers and magazines around the country (the story later appeared under various titles). He is called the father of American Literature by William Faulkner. However, in many ways the childhood of Samuel Clemens was a rough one. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, USA, to Jane (née Lampton) and John Marshall Clemens. Writing grand tales about Sawyer, Finn and the mighty Mississippi River, Twain explored the American soul with wit, buoyancy and a sharp eye for truth. Judging from his own speculative ventures in silver mining, business, and publishing, it was a curse that Sam Clemens never quite outgrew. The sixth child of John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton, Twain lived in Florida, Missouri until the age of four, at which time his family relocated to the town of Hannibal in hopes of improving … Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twai n (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910) was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Childhood along the Mississippi. In the meantime, the debts accumulated. Probably the most famous American of the late 19th century, he was much photographed and applauded wherever he went. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. https://www.biography.com/writer/mark-twain. Born in Florida, Missouri in 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens would start a life that would be filled with great satire short stories. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. In 1851, at 15, he got a job as a printer and occasional writer and editor at the Hannibal Western Union, a little newspaper owned by his brother, Orion. Late in his life, Twain reflected on this promise that became a curse: It put our energies to sleep and made visionaries of us—dreamers and indolent.…It is good to begin life poor; it is good to begin life rich—these are wholesome; but to begin it prospectively rich! At first, he prospected for silver and gold, convinced that he would become the savior of his struggling family and the sharpest-dressed man in Virginia City and San Francisco. Mark Twain's Short Stories and Essays. Indeed, he was one of the most prominent celebrities in the world, traveling widely overseas, including a successful 'round-the-world lecture tour in 1895-96, undertaken to pay off his debts. In January 1845 Clemens watched a man die in the street after he had been shot by a local merchant; this incident provided the basis for the Boggs shooting in Huckleberry Finn. The first site evidently became Jackson’s Island in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; the second became McDougal’s Cave in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. His next major work, in 1894, was The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, a somber novel that some observers described as "bitter.". Mark Twain - short biography and literary slide show. He was buried in Elmira, New York. As Halley's comet reached its perihelion — its closest point to the sun — Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in the sleepy, little town of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. His parents met when his father moved to Missouri. As the Civil War began, the people of Missouri angrily split between support for the Union and the Confederate States. When Jane Clemens was in her 80s, Clemens asked her about his poor health in those early years: “I suppose that during that whole time you were uneasy about me?” “Yes, the whole time,” she answered. He wrote 28 books and numerous short stories, letters and sketches. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. His most famous novels included The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), which are loosely based on Twain’s boyhood experiences in Missouri. The town, situated on the Mississippi River, was in many ways a splendid place to grow up. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was an American humorist, writer, publisher, entrepreneur, lecturer, and publisher. Mark Twain Tribute Photos of Twain set to music. Mark Twain Biography Growing Up. Perhaps it was the romantic visionary in him that caused Clemens to recall his youth in Hannibal with such fondness. Thankfully, Twain's glorious "low-minded" Western voice broke through on occasion. Christened as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, the man who would call himself Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in the small river town of Florida, Missouri, just 200 miles from Indian Territory. Still, John Clemens believed the Tennessee land he had purchased in the late 1820s (some 70,000 acres [28,000 hectares]) might one day make them wealthy, and this prospect cultivated in the children a dreamy hope. Computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip. You are likely familiar with the name but you might be wondering “who was MarkTwain?” It was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a famous American writer, humorist, lecturer, and journalist. Working at a printing house and part-time delivering parcels, … When Twain was about four, his family moved again, this time to Hannibal, Missouri, a small town of about five hundred people. Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri and would later use that location as the setting for two of his most famous works, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He worked briefly as a typesetter in St. Louis in 1853 before traveling to New York City to work at a large printing shop. Nevertheless, by the time Clemens was 13, his boyhood had effectively come to an end. Professor Emeritus of English, University of Missouri, Columbia. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to nearby Hannibal, a bustling river town of 1,000 people.