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Samuel L. Clemens date of birth
He's born in Florida, Missouri. Andrew Jackson is President. Halley’s comet appears. -
Sam's father dies
Sam's father dies. His mother stops making him go to school. -
Sam works for his brother Orion
Sam works for his brother's newspaper in Hannibal. He makes up funny stories so that people subscribe to the newspaper. -
Sam becomes a steamboat pilot.
When Sam was a boy, every boy's dream was to become a steamboat pilot. In 1857 Sam's dream comes true. At the time a steamboat pilot got paid more in a month than the Vice President got paid in a year. This is where he first hears the term "Mark Twain" used by the person checking the river depth to mean "it's deep enough." -
Becomes Mark Twain.
Sam uses the pen name Mark Twain when he publishes the story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. This is the story that will make him famous. -
goes to the Sandwich Islands
Mark goes to the Sandwich Islands. He later gives a series of talks on his experience. -
Marries Olivia Langdon.
Sam/Twain gets married to Olivia Langdon. Sam/Twain is 35. -
Sam/Twain's first child dies.
Langdon, Sam/Twain's first son, dies as an infant. Twain publishes a book called Roughing It. -
Sam/Twain's second child is born.
Clara, Sam/Twain's daughter is born. This is Sam/Twain's second child. -
Tom Sawyer is published.
Tom Sawyer is published. Twain starts to write The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. -
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published. Twain is 50. -
Sam/Twain's daughter dies.
Sam/Twain's daughter Suzy dies. Sam/Twain is 61. -
Sam/Twain's brother dies.
Sam/Twain's brother Orion dies. Sam/Twain is 62. -
Sam's death
Sam dies as Mark Twain in Connecticut of heart disease. Halley's Comet appears again. -
Twain's autobiography published
100 years after his death, his autobiography is published. Twain requested it that way. (this is not in the book) -
an explanation
This timeline has a lot of "1 Jan" dates. I did that intentionally. That means that the book I used did not say the date, only the year.
The book I used was The Trouble Begins at 8, by Sid Fleischman.
The pictures were from Wikipedia. Autobiography cover picture from Amazon.
