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Mark Twain Biography

　　Mark Twain is one of America's truly unique and defining personalities. His ability to tap into American culture and humor gave him an invaluable insight in his writings and speeches. Known for his realism, memorable characters, bluntness and hatred of hypocrisy and oppression, Twain is definitely one of the most recognizable figures in American history.
　　Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorn Clemens on Nov. 30, 1835, in Florida, Mo. His parents John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton's families were originally from Virginia, and the couple had made four moves westward prior to Sam's birth. Sam was the couples' sixth child and in 1839, the family moved to nearby Hannibal, Mo. It was in this small river town that Clemens would spend his boyhood years.
　　During this crucial time in his life, Clemens developed a strong tie to the Mississippi River, along which Hannibal is located. Steamboats landed at the town three times a day, and these river chariots captured Clemens' imagination as he dreamed of one day becoming a steamboat captain.
　　Despite Clemens' love for the river, his first job was not on the mighty Mississippi, but as a printer's apprentice to Joseph Ament, who published the Missouri Courier. Clemens would take the job in 1848, a year after his fathers death. In 1851, he began setting type for and contributing sketches to his brother Orion's Hannibal Journal. During the next two years, he continued at the Journal and would take over as editor in Orion's absence. Clemens even got a few of his sketches published in the Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post in 1852.
　　Clemens left Hannibal in 1853, but would not completely cut his ties with his hometown. While working as a printer in New York City and Philadelphia, he had travel letters published in the Hannibal Journal. He would return to the Midwest in 1854, at age 19, and spent the next four years living in several cities in the area.

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