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Samuel Langhorne Clemens is born in Florida, Missouri, as the sixth of seven children of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens.
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Samuel's family moves to Hannibal, Missouri which inspired the fictional town of St.Petersburg in his famous novels. Samuel admires the riverboat pilots in Hannibal and hopes to become one himself.
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Samuel's father dies and the family enters financial hardship.
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Samuel Clemens leaves school at the age of 15 to become a printer.
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Samuel begins a successful two-year apprenticeship to become a river pilot. He learns about the trade including the phrase "Mark Twain" which refers to the river depth at which a boat can safely navigate. He later makes it his pen name.
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Twain's youngest brother Henry dies in an explosion on the steamboat "Pennsylvania" at the age of 20. Mark had encouraged Henry to train to become a steamboat pilot and felt he was responsible that his brother died for the rest of his life.
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The Civil War breaks out and trade along the Mississippi river is stopped putting an end to Mark's steamboat career.
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In an adventure later wrote about in the book "Roughing It", Twain travels to Nevada with his brother Orion, who had been named the secretary of the territorial governor. He tried his hand at mining and other jobs before becoming a reporter for the Virginia City "Daily Territorial Enterprise."
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Twain travels to northern California and settles in San Francisco.
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The short story "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" appears in the New York "Saturday Press." The story becomes extremely popular and raises Twain's status as a writer
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Twain travels to Hawaii as a reporter for San Francisco's "Alta California" newspaper. When he returns to the mainland a few months later, he gives his first public lecture and it becomes a hit.
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Twain meets Olivia "Livy" Langdon who is the sister of a friend. He instantly falls in love with her.
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Mark publishes his first book called "The Innocent Abroad. It becomes a bestseller.
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Mark Twain gets married to Olivia Langdon. Their son Langdon is born later that year.
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Twain moves his family to Hartsfield, Conneticut. He also publishes the book "Roughing It" which is about his years in the west. His daughter Susy is born but their son Langdon dies of diphtheria.
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The couple have their fourth and final child, their daughter Jean.
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Twain publishes "Life on the Mississippi" which is about his years as a steamboat pilot.
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Twain founds his own publishing company Charles L. Webster & Co. It turns out as a bad financial move and the company's struggles eventually ruin his family's finances.
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Within a year, Mark Twain publishes both his greatest work "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" as well as a biography of President Ulysses S. Grant.
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Twain publishes "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and critics tear the book to shreds.
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After a series of poor business decisions, Twain's finances are in shambles. He relocates his family to Europe for cheaper living.
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Twain's last novel, "Puddn'head Wilson is published. Also, after ten difficult years Mark's publishing company is washed up. He finds himself practically bankrupt but his close friend takes over his finances, saving him from complete disaster.
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Twain does a worldwide lecture tour in order to pay back his creditors.
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At the age of 24, Susy dies of meningitis in the U.S while Twain is lecturing in Europe. Mark was particularly close with his daughter and never fully recovered from her death, which marked the end of his most successful period as a writer.
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Twain's wife dies after a serious two-year illness. After Livy's death, Twain moves to New York City and begins writing his autobiography.
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Twain's youngest daughter Jean is institutionalized due to severe epilepsy.
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Twain's youngest daughter, Jean, passes away.
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At the age of 74, Mark Twain dies at his home in Redding, Connecticut
