Mark Twain

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His birth name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Mark Twain is considered to be America's most famous literary icon.

He was born in Florida, Missouri.

He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

He was born in 1835.

He was one of six children to his parents John and Jane Clemens.

He died in 1910 at the age of 74.

He was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira New York.

His father died when he was 12.

He left school at the age of 13 and worked as a printer's apprentice.

After two years he joined with his brother newspaper as a printer and editorial assistant. The paper was named Orion's.

At the age of 17 he left the paper and moved to St. Louis in pursuit of a printing job there.

He also pursued a river boating license. He received the licence in 1858.

He created his pen name while a pilot on a river boat. The phrase Mark Twain means it is safe to navigate.

During the decline of  riverboats due to the Civil War, Twain took up reporting gig. He worked for newspapers across the US.

He started gaining notoriety after he wrote, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County."

The story appeared in the New York Saturday press on Nov. 18, 1865.

Reference - http://cmgww.com/historic/twain/about/bio.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/twain.html

He published over 30 books in his career.

His first book was called, "The Innocence Abroad." It was published in 1869.

Quotes - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_twain.html

During the Civil war Twain created his own Confederate militia known as the Marion Rangers. It was disbanded after only two weeks.

After his militia disbanded, he worked as a miner in Nevada.

Before coining Mark Twain as his official pen name, he used Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass as his pen name.

He married Olivia Langdon.

He had four children. One died in the infancy stages of its life. Two died while in their 20s. The last one died elderly, and with one daughter. the daughter died with children.

Twain has no direct descendants living.

In 1907 he received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University.

The only time Twain ever collaborated with another writer was with Charles Warner. Together they wrote, "The Gilded Age."