Mark+Twain's+Biography

By: Justin Meier Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, created timeless works of literature through his life experiences. Though some of his works did not gain immediate popularity, many of Clemens writings hold popularity to this day. Throughout his life, Samuel Langhorne Clemens experienced hardships and success that transformed him into one of America’s most celebrated authors.
 * __Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) __**

Born November 30th, 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was the sixth child of John Marshal and Jane Lampton Clemens. Although born in Florida, Missouri, the Clemens family moved to Hannibal, Missouri when Samuel was four. His childhood in Hannibal, located on the banks of the Mississippi River, served as a cornucopia of inspiration for his writings (Trout). At the age of 12, Clemens’s father John died, forcing him to search for work to help support his family. He soon began employment as an apprentice printer at the Hannibal Courier, and later a writer/editor at the Hannibal Western Union (Mark Twain). In 1857, Clemens set out to become a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, another event that enriched his writings. Through this experience, Clemens also gained the inspiration for his pseudonym “Mark Twain”, meaning “two fathoms deep” (Trout).

In 1861, Samuel Clemens traveled west to Nevada with his brother Orion Clemens, the appointed secretary of Nevada. At first, Clemens attempted to make a profession of mining silver and gold, but ultimately failed. Soon after, he returned to journalism by becoming a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise; thereafter, Samuel Clemens began to be identified by his pen name “Mark Twain” (Trout).

After successes in short-stories and essays, Clemens married Olivia Langdon in 1870 and moved to Hartford, Connecticut shortly after. The couple had four children while in Hartford: Langdon, who died as an infant, Susy, Clara, and Jean. While in Hartford, Clemens shifted to writing books; many became his most famous works, such as //Tom Sawyer// and //The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn// (Trout).

In 1890, Clemens and his family fell into financial hardship as his publishing firm C.L. Webster failed and a sour investment in the Paige Typesetter left him bankrupt. In order to recover funds, the Clemens family left Hartford for a world lecture tour, residing mostly in Europe. While on tour, Susy Clemens died of spinal meningitis, leaving Clemens greatly disheartened (Liukkonen, Petri). Later, Clemens lost his wife Olivia in 1904 and daughter Jean in 1909 (Trout).

After years of bitterness due to his losses, Samuel Langhorne Clemens died of heart failure in his home outside Redding, Connecticut in 1910 at the age of 74 (Mark Twain). Buried next to his wife and children, he was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, NY (Trout).

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Mark Twain, is still celebrated to this day as a prominent author through an annual book award and a national forest in Missouri named in his honor (Trout). To this day, the writings shaped from a life of adventure and short-falls are still acclaimed as literary classics

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