Mark Twain

November 30, 2024

Fast Facts
Background
Career Timeline
Why We Love
Surprising Facts
FAQs

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born on November 30, 1835. This American humorist, journalist, professor, and novelist was and still is best known for his travel tales, in particular, “The Innocents Abroad,” “Roughing It,” and “Life on the Mississippi,” as well as his early youth adventure stories, notably “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” He surpassed the constraints of his roots to become a famous public personality and one of America’s greatest and most adored writers. He was a skilled raconteur and a unique humorist. Let us remember and celebrate the birthday of such a great personality!

Fast Facts

Full Name:

Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Nickname:

Mark Twain, Father of American Literature

Birth date:

November 30, 1835

Death date:

April 21, 1910 (age 74)

Zodiac Sign:

Sagittarius

Height:

5' 8"

Net Worth:

$471.1 thousand

Background

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, United States. He is the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens and was born two months prematurely. His health was not great when he was young. When his lawyer father died, Twain was only 11 years old. Twain started working as a store clerk and a delivery boy to assist his family monetarily. He also began working as an apprentice, then as a compositor, for local printers, submitting minor works to local newspapers on the side. His satirical caricature “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter” was published in a sportsmen’s magazine in Boston, Massachusetts, when he was 17.

Twain started his journey as an apprentice printer in St. Louis, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, momentarily settling with his brother, Orion, in Iowa. This was before he expected that he would find his fortune next to the vibrant banks of the Amazon River in South America. Instead, while going down the Mississippi River, he became a steamboat river pilot until the onset of the Civil War.

His wit and humor in prose and speech garnered him plaudits from critics and peers alike, and he was friends with presidents, artists, businessmen, and European aristocracy. Twain gained a lot of money through his books and speeches but also engaged in businesses that cost him a lot of financial misfortunes, which he eventually overcame with the aid of Henry Huttleston Rogers. He finally paid out all of his creditors in full, even though his bankruptcy exempted him from doing so. Twain was born just after Halley’s Comet appeared, and he foretold that he would go out with it too; he passed a day after the comet made its closest approach to Earth. In February 1870, he married Olivia Langdon. The couple welcomed four children, of which they lost their son as a newborn and his two daughters in their mid-twenties.

Career timeline

1853

Twain Debuts in Printing

Twain starts as a printer's apprentice and soon finds himself penning essays and drawings for his elder brother's newspaper while working as a writer at various locations; he also works as a journalist for a newspaper, obtaining significant expertise in the field.

1856

His Debut Speech

His humorous speeches gain him accolades, and he is quickly regarded as a remarkable professor who is in demand as a speaker for many years following this initial address.

1859

He Receives His Pilot License

He acquires his river pilot certificate after two years of studying the Mississippi River.

1870-1900

He Publishes Adventure Books

Twain publishes his adventure novels, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," while traveling to several nations.

1906

His Autobiography

Twain begins writing his autobiography, and around this time he meets Thomas Edison and Mahatma Gandhi, a prominent Indian politician.

Why We Love Mark Twain

He honed his skills
While growing up in Hannibal on the Mississippi River, he honed his linguistic and persuasive talents. He did this by hearing stories narrated by a slave named Uncle Dan'l.
Twain was always a hard worker
He had already traveled almost 2,000 miles, resided in three major East Coast towns, and served as a newspaper reporter before the age of 18. He showed dedication and promise.
A rockstar of the United States
He acquired national recognition as a humorist, and as a result of these experiences, he became an almost overnight phenomenon as a speaker. He is greatly looked up to in the writing industry.

5 Surprising Facts

Twain’s popular writings
In his lifetime, he has penned novels, fiction, nonfiction, short tales, and so on.
He tried his luck in mining
He tried and was unsuccessful as a silver miner in Virginia City's Comstock Lode.
He loved traveling
Twain visited the Middle East, India, Australia, Canada, and Europe in his lifetime.
He was a cat lover
He had at least two cats throughout his life, although it was reported that he had as many as 19 cats.
He was a board game founder
To boost sales, he converted the outdoor game Memory Builder into a board game.