On Nov. 30, 1835, the small town of Florida, Mo. saw the birth of its most famous son. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was welcomed into the world as the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Clemens. Little did that happy couple realise their son Samuel would one day be known as Mark Twain - America's most famous literary icon.
Approximately four years after his birth, in 1839, the Clemens family moved to the town of Hannibal, a growing port city that lay along the banks of the great Mississippi. Hannibal then, was a frequent stop for steam boats arriving by both day and night from St. Louis and New Orleans.
Samuel's father, a judge in the town, built a two-story frame house at 206 Hill Street. Because of poor health, as a youngster Samuel was kept indoors but by the age of nine, he recovered enough to join the rest of the town's children and play outside. He then attended a private school in Hannibal. Three years later his father died of pneumonia and at 13, Samuel was forced to leave school and become a printer's apprentice. After two short years, he joined his brother’s Orion newspaper as a printer and editorial assistant. It was here that young Samuel discovered the joy of writing. Sometime later Samuel became a licensed river pilot in 1858 which gave him the idea of the pseudonym, Mark Twain – a term which means two fathoms or 12-feet when water is being sounded. ‘Mark twain’ means it is safe to navigate.
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