Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American writer most famous for his children's books "The

Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Born Samuel Clemens, he
used the pseudonym Mark Twain for his writing career.

Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens in 1835 in Florida, Missouri, USA He was the sixth of seven
children of John Clemens, a lawyer, and his wife Jane, although three of Samuel's brothers died in
infancy.

When Samuel was four years old, the family moved to Hannibal, a city on the Mississippi River.
Samuel loved looking at river boats and dreamed of being a river boat pilot. Many of his stories
were inspired by his adventures in Hannibal.

When Samuel was 11 years old, his father died. To support his family, Samuel became a printer's
apprentice at the Missouri Courier. He learned a lot about writing and used public libraries at night
to educate himself. Later, Samuel worked as a printer for Western Union, his brother Orion's
newspaper. Samuel created articles and sketches for the newspaper and became known for his
humor.

At 17, Samuel left Hannibal and found printing jobs in St Louis, New York, Philadelphia, and
Cincinnati. Then, in 1857, he went back to study for two years to become a riverboat pilot.

But 1861 saw the end of the Samuel River days once the Civil War began. He moved west to join
the Confederate army, although he left before the fighting began. After briefly working as a miner,
he became a reporter for the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada, and began writing
short stories by the name of Mark Twain. These funny tales were full of adventure.

Mark's first popular story, 'The Famous Calaveras County Jumping Frog', was published in 1865. It
received international acclaim and Mark soon became one of the most famous American
celebrities of his day. He was asked to write his first (and best-selling) book 'The Innocents Abroad'
(1869) on his travels, followed by other works such as 'Roughing It' (1872), 'The Prince and the
Pauper' (1882), and 'Life on the Mississippi' (1883).

Fun facts

Samuel Clemens was born shortly after the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1835. He believed
that he, too, would "go out with him." Halley's Comet appears about once every 75 years, and
Samuel died the day after his return in 1910.

The pseudonym Mark Twain comes from a riverboat term that measures the depth of water. A
'mark' meant one fathom or six feet, while 'two' meant two. If a man yelled "Mark Twain," it
meant the water was 12 feet deep and safe for riverboats at the time.