Mark Twain

Was It Heaven? Or Hell? (1902) by Mark Twain

Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri, the sixth of seven children born to Jane (née Lampton; 1803-1890), a native of Kentucky, and John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847), a native of Virginia. His parents met when his father moved to Missouri, and they were married in 1823. Twain was of Cornish, English, and Scots-Irish descent. Only three of his siblings survived childhood: Orion (1825-1897), Henry (1838-1858), and Pamela (1827-1904). His sister Margaret (1830-1839) died when Twain was three, and his brother Benjamin (1832-1842) died three years later. His brother Pleasant Hannibal (1828) died at three weeks of age