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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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The Clemens family moves to Hannibal, Missouri, a riverbank town that is a frequent stop for steamboats traveling the Mississippi. Young Samuel reveres the riverboat pilots and hopes to become one himself.
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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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Samuel Clemens begins a successful two-year apprenticeship to become a licensed river pilot. He learns the lingo of the trade, including "mark twain," a phrase that refers to the river depth at which a boat is safe to navigate. He soon adopts it as his pen name
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Twain's youngest brother Henry is killed 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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The Civil War breaks out. Trade along the Mississippi River is halted, forcing an end to Twain's steamboat career. Twain spends two weeks training in a volunteer Confederate militia before it disbands.
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Twain travels to northern California, visiting Calavaras County before settling in San Francisco.
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The short story "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" (later "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County") appears in the New York Saturday Press. The story proves extremely popular and raises Twain's profile as a writer.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is published
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Twain publishes Life on the Mississippi, his memoir of his years as a steamboat pilot.
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Twain founds his own publishing company, Charles L. Webster & Co. (named after his nephew and co-owner Charles L. Webster). It turns out to be a bad financial move—the company's struggles will eventually ruin his family's finances.
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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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Mark Twain dies at the age of 74 at his home in Redding, Connecticut
