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Mark Twain was born November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. His parents were Jane and John Marshall Clemens. His birth name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
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After Twain's father died in 1947, he went to work as a printer's apprentice and started writing articles. This could be considered to be the start of his writing career.
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Mark Twain's speaking was one of the things that made him famous. His first speech was impromptu and there is no transcript, but people liked his dialogue and uncommon insight and he quickly became a sought-after speaker.
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Mark Twain moved to San Francisco in 1864. While there, he met many other famous writers.
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Twain got engaged to Olivia Louise Langdon, who came from a wealthy family, on February 4, 1869. His first actual book "The Innocents Abroad" was also published that year.
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Mark Twain and Olivia Louise Langdon were married February 2, 1870, in New York. They had 4 children: a son (who died in infancy) and three daughters.
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"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," one of Twain's most famous books, was published in 1876.
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In 1882, Twain went up the Mississippi to refresh his memory and gather information for "Life on the Mississippi," published 1883.
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One of his other most famous books, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," was published in the United States in 1885.
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In 1904, Twain's wife, Olivia, died from heart failure. Twain had spent the last few years traveling, but after she died, he moved back to New York.
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Mark Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910. He was buried in his wife's family plot in Elmira, New York.
