Rising Stars Blog

Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens was born November 30th, 1835, in Missouri. Mark Twain died on April 21st, 1910, in Connecticut. But in between was a life lived that no one could have prepared for, one that gave us the classics The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Roughing It. Twain was born 6th in line to a couple named John and Jane Clemens, 2 moths early. He was in poor health up until age 10, when he became healthy again. His large imagination served him well in boyhood, as did his Tom Sawyer-like tendencies to test his mother’s patience. He and his friends would often play games, like pretending to be Robin Hood, or a gang of pirates. Although it seemed like his childhood must have been great, it was, at times, anything but. His sister died before he was 4, then his brother 3 years later. The measles swept through, and then cholera. His father died from pneumonia, making the family’s financial situation all the more precarious. In 1844, he discovered the dead body of a man in his late father’s study, left there by the murderer, and a year later saw a man get shot to death in the street. The incident was the inspiration for the Boggs shooting from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His friend drowned in 1848, and then found the dead and mutilated body of a slave a couple of days later. Needless to say, his childhood was cut short by the violence around him.

He worked several jobs from the time he was about 13, although he was allowed to stay in school and get an education. In 1850, Orion Clemens returned home and started up a newspaper. Samuel and hs brother worked for Orion, and occasionally he would put short stories into the newspaper. It wes then that he started using synonyms, such as “W. Epaminondas Adrastus Perkins” and “Josh”. He officially started using Mark Twain before the age of 17. He left his home and worked for a number of years doing different things, but it was not until his 37th year that he discovered that he was a “literary person” in his own terms.

Twain worked for many years until he found his style: Humor. His first published book was called “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” and didn’t sell particularly well, and following the lack of sucess, he moved to New York City. His next book, “The Innocents Abroad” was a major success. He met a girl named Olivia while he was on the boat on which he wrote “The Innocents Abroad”, and he fell in love with her, and they married in 1870. His first son, Langdon, died at 2, but eventually, his daughter was born. He had another daughter, Clara, and moved to a farm. He lived out the rest of his life a well known author, and he was happy.

In present day, he’s a household name. People still read Tom Sawyer, and several of his books never went out of publication. Mark Twain’s story is a story of endurance through hardship, ad triumph over tragedy.