Samuel Langhorne Clemens may have been one of the greatest American authors of all time. Samuel, Son of John and James Clemens, was born on November 30, 1835 in the town of Florida, Missouri. Samuel was born two months premature and it seemed unlikely that Samuel would survive the harsh winter but indeed he did. Death would take other children in the family instead: Margaret in 1836, Benjamin in 1842, and Henry in 1858(Miller, 2&3).

According to Miller, Samuel remembered his father as:

"A proud, a silent austere man who considered himself to be a member of the professional class both by virtue of his birth and by the fact that he studied law. He was Justice of the Peace in Florida and he owned 3 slaves, inherited by the death of his father."

Samuel's father was the owner of a 75,000 acre estate in Tennessee--land he had purchased for 500 dollars convinced that he was securing his family's eventual fortune. Despite owning an estate in Tennessee, in 1839 James Clemens moved his family to Hannibal, Missouri where he hoped to find prosperity. 8 years later, Samuel's father died of pneumonia lea

Samuel Clemens married Olivia Langdon in February 1870, after a formal engagement of one year.(Willis, 54-55) Their 33 year marriage would be exceptionally happy-something to which almost everyone who knew them testified at length. His personal happiness was marred only by the death of his wife and the death of his eighteen-month-old son in June 1872, following an outing in which the absent-minded father had allowed a fur blanket that had been protecting the child to fall aside.(Miller 17)

"Mark Twain: the Bachelor Years"

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1509
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)