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Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain1835-1910Samuel Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, atomic number 42, the sixth of seven children. At the age of four, Sam and his family moved to the small boundary town of Hannibal, Missouri on the banks of the Mississippi River. Missouri, at the time, was a fairly new state (it had gained statehood in 1820) and comprised part of the countrys western border. It was also a slave state. Sams father owned one slave and his uncle owned several. In fact, it was on his uncles farm that Sam washed-out many boyhood summers playing in the slave quarters, listening to tall tales and the slave spirituals that he would enjoy throughout his life. In 1847, when Sam was 11, his father died. Shortly thereafter he left school, having completed the fifth grade, to break away as a printers apprentice for a local newspaper. His job was to arrange the type for each of the newspapers stories, allowing Sam to read the news of the world while complemental his work. At 18, Sam headed east to New York City and Philadelphia where he worked on several different newspapers and found some success at writing articles. By 1857, he had returned home to embark on a new career as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. With the outbreak of the Civil struggle in 1861, however, all traffic along the river came to a halt, as did Sams pilot career. Inspired by the times, Sam joined a volunteer Confederate unit of measurement called the Marion Rangers, but he quit after skilful two weeks.In search of a new career, Sam headed west in July of 1861, at the invitation of his brother, Orion, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory. Lured by the infectious hope of striking it rich in Nevadas silver rush, Sam traveled across the open frontier from Missouri to Nevada by stagecoach. Along the journey Sam encountered Native American tribes for the first time as well as a variety of unique characters, mishaps and disappointments. These events would scratch a way into his short stories and books, particularly Roughing It.After failing as a silver prospector, Sam began writing for the Territorial Enterprise, a Virginia City, Nevada newspaper where he used, for the first time, his pen name, Mark Twain. Wanting a change by 1864, Sam headed for San Francisco where he continued to write for local papers.In 1865, Sams first " spoilt break" came with the publication of his s... ...at his marketable reputation would be ruined. In 1903, after living in New York City for three years, Livy became ill and Sam and his married woman returned to Italy where she died a year later. After her death, Sam lived in New York until 1908 when he moved into his last house, "Stormfield", in Redding, Connecticut. In 1909, his middle daughter Clara was married. In the alike(p) year Jean, the youngest daughter, died from an epileptic seizure. Four months later on April 21, 1910, Sam Clemens died at the age of 74. Like any g ood journalist, Sam Clemens/Mark Twain spent his life observing and reporting on his surroundings. In his writings he provided images of the romantic, the real, the strengths and weaknesses of a rapidly changing world. By examining his life and his works, we can read into the last(prenominal) - piecing together various events of the era and the responses to them. We can delve into the American mindset of the late nineteenth century and make our own observations of history, discover new connections, work new inferences and gain better insights into the time period and the people who lived in it. As Sam once wrote, "Supposing is good, but finding out is better."