Mark twain childhood and family background facts
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How Mark Twain’s Childhood Influenced His Literary Works
Hannibal, Missouri made Mark Twain, and, in turn, Twain made Hannibal famous. Few American authors are as closely intertwined — and influenced — by their hometowns as Twain. The childhood years spent in this Missouri town gave birth to some of the most famous characters in American literature, an emotional and memory-filled well that Twain would return to again and again.
Twain came from humble origins
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in the tiny town of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, two weeks after Halley’s Comet made its closest approach to the Earth. He was the sixth of seven children born to John and Jane Clemens. He was a sickly youth, whose parents feared he might not survive, and the family was beset by the tragic early deaths of three of Twain’s siblings.
When Twain was 4 years old, his family moved to the Mississippi River port town of Hannibal, where John worked as a lawyer, storekeeper and judge. John also dabbled in land speculation, leaving the family’s finances often precarious. His son, who
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Mark Twain's Biography
by Gregg Camfield, PhD, University of California-Merced
On November 30, 1835, nearly thirty years before he took the pen name Mark Twain, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, a hamlet some 130 miles north-northwest of St. Louis, and 30 miles inland from the Mississippi River. His father, John Marshall Clemens, had earlier that year moved the family there from Tennessee. In Tennessee, he had accumulated much land, a pair of slaves, a wife, and five children, but his efforts as a lawyer, storekeeper, and local politician did not yield the wealth he desired. Like many of his contemporaries, he decided that the way to a fortunate future was to move west. His brother-in-law, John Quarles, had established a farm in the new hamlet of Florida and invited John Marshall Clemens, his wife, Jane Lampton Clemens, and their brood of children to the new country.
Trained to be a country lawyer, John Marshall was no farmer, and even though Americans were extraordinarily litigious, it would take time (and denser population) to build a law practice that
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Mark Twain
American author and humorist (1835–1910)
For other uses, see Mark Twain (disambiguation).
Mark Twain | |
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Mark Twain in 1907 | |
| Born | Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-11-30)November 30, 1835 Florida, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | April 21, 1910(1910-04-21) (aged 74) Stormfield House, Redding, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, New York, U.S. |
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| Occupation |
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| Language | American English |
| Genres | |
| Literary movement | American Realism |
| Years active | from 1863 |
| Employers | |
| Spouse | Olivia Langdon (m. 1870; died 1904) |
| Children | 4, including Susy, Clara, and Jean |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Orion Clemens (brother) |
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produce
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