 Samuel Langhorne Clemens  Born in Florida, Missouri then at age 4 moved to Hannibal, Missouri  Father dies when Samuel is 12  Printer’s apprentice, riverboat captain  Wrote under penname Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass until 1863 (adopted Mark Twain Feb. 3, 1863—two fathoms deep)

 Wrote for Atlantic Monthly  Short stint in Civil War: “I knew more about retreating than the man that invented retreating”  Traveled with brother Orion to Nevada Territory  1865 published “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog” which earned him international attention

 Married Olivia Langdon 1870  Four children (3 of whom died prior to him)  Settled in Hartford, CT  Bankrupt in 1893  His oldest daughter, Susy’s, death in 1898 and his wife’s in 1904 were turning points

 The Gilded Age  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (his masterpiece although banned many times)

 America’s Greatest Humorist  Known for wearing white  Honorary degrees from Oxford and Yale

 It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth an remove all doubt  I’ve never let my school interfere with my education