Mark Twain

Birth Name:

Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Birth Place:

Florida, Missouri, United States

Profession

Writer

Became a licensed river pilot in 1858 in St․ Louis, where he earned the pseudonym "Mark Twain," which is a boating term used to establish the depth of the river
Left school to become a printer's apprentice at the age of 13 and joined his brother's newspaper as a printer and editorial assistant, discovering his love of writing in the process, at the age of 15
Spent much of his early childhood confined to his house due to health issues
Quote: "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry․"
Quote: "The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter․"
Began working as a newspaper reporter in 1861 after the Civil War put a stop to the river trade and published his first story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County," in the New York Saturday Press in 1865
Best known as an author and humorist who wrote the novels "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn․"
Before he began using the pen name Mark Twain, he published humorous stories in the Keokuk Post under the name Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass
On both the night of his birth and the night of his death, Haley's Comet was visible in the sky
Reached such a level of fame in the U․S․ that fan letters addressed only to "Mark Twain, God knows where" would actually be delivered to him, and those addressed to "Mark Twain, c/o President Roosevelt" were passed on to him by the White House

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