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Samuel Langhorne Clemens is born in Florida, Missouri, the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens.
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Samuel's father John Clemens dies, forcing the family into financial hardship.
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At the age of 15, Samuel leaves school and goes to work as a printer in Hannibal.
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Twain's youngest brother Henry is killed tragically at the age of 20 in an explosion on the steamboat Pennsylvania. Henry had been training to become a steamboat pilot, at Twain's encouragement. Twain, devastated by his brother's death, feels responsible for it for the rest of his life.
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Twain is introduced to Olivia "Livy" Langdon, the sister of a friend. He is instantly smitten.
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Twain marries Olivia Langdon, who becomes an important editor of his work. Their son Langdon is born later that year.
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In the span of less than a year, Twain publishes both his greatest fiction and non-fiction works: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and a biography of President Ulysses S. Grant.
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Twain's 24-year-old daughter Susy dies of meningitis in the U.S. while Twain is lecturing in Europe. Twain, who was particularly close to his oldest daughter, is devastated. He never fully recovers from her death, which marks the end of his most successful period as a writer.
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Mark Twain dies at the age of 74 at his home in Redding, Connecticut.
