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Timeline
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1835 |
Nov. 30-Samuel Langhorne Clemens is born in Florida, Missouri to John M. and Jane L. Clemens (5th surviving child) |
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1839 |
Clemens family moves to Hannibal, Missouri |
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1840 |
Begins school |
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1845 |
Takes first steamboat to St. Louis
Olivia Langdon, future wife, born in Elmira, New York |
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1847 |
John M. Clemens, father, dies. Begins delivering papers and working as an errand boy for Hannibal Gazette, ending formal education at the age of 11(5th Grade) |
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Works as a printer's apprentice for Hannibal Courier. |
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1850 |
Works for brother Orion as reporter and printer at Hannibal Journal, runs paper when Orion away. |
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1851 |
"A Gallant Fireman", Clemens' earliest known sketch appears in Hannibal Journal.
Sketches appear in Philadelphia's Saturday Evening Post. |
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1853 |
Works as itinerant printer in St. Louis, New York City and Philadelphia.
Corresponds for Iowa's Muscatine Journal from Philadelphia. |
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1854 |
Works in brother Orion's Ben Franklin Book and Job Office, Keokuk, Iowa. |
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1856 |
Gives first public speech at printers banquet in Keokuk, Iowa. |
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Cub (apprentice) riverboat pilot on Mississippi River under Horace Bixby. |
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1858 |
Brother Henry Clemens dies from injuries sustained in explosion of riverboat Pennsylvania. |
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1859 |
Earns steamboat pilot license. Works steadily as a river pilot on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans. |
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1861 |
Piloting career ends with closing of Mississippi River due to Civil War.
Joins band of Confederate irregulars around Marion Country for a few weeks.
Brother Orion is appointed Secretary to the Nevada Territory. Sam travels with him by stagecoach to Virginia city.
Prospects unsuccessfully for silver in Nevada. |
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1862 |
Writes for the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City Nevada. |
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Adopts pen name "Mark Twain," an old riverboat term which means the line between safe water and dangerous water.
Visits San Francisco. |
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1864 |
Works as a reporter for San Francisco Morning Call and the Sacramento Union. |
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1865 |
Visits Angels Camp in Calaveras Country, California.
Writes "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog." |
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1866 |
Goes to Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) as a reporter for Sacramento Union. |
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Arrested for disorderly conduct in New York City. Spends the night in jail.
Visits Europe and the Holy Land of the Quaker City as a reporter.
Meets Olivia Langdon in New York City. Attends a reading by Charles Dickens with her family.
Publishes The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories.
Visits San Francisco. |
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1868 |
Visits Hartford, Connecticut to see publisher, The American Publishing Company.
Meets Harriet Beecher Stowe. |
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Formally engaged to marry Olivia (Livy) Langdon.
Publishes The Innocents Abroad.
Meets Frederick Douglass. |
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Marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, New York, on February 2. Couple settles in Buffalo, New York. Partial owner of Buffalo Express. A son, Langdon Clemens is born.
Visits San Francisco. |
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1871 |
Moves family to Hartford, Connecticut, leases a home in Nook Farm neighborhood. |
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March 19-Olivia Susan (Susy) Clemens, daughter, born in Elmira, New York.
June 2-Langdon dies in Hartford.
Publishes Roughing It. |
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Clemens family buys property on Farmington Avenue and commissions E. T. Potter, architect, to design their house.
Lectures and travels with family in England.
Patents Self Pasting Scrapbook.
Publishes The Gilded Age with Charles Dudley Warner. |
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Clara Langdon Clemens, daughter, born in Elmira.
Clemens family moves to new Hartford home. |
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Publishes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Starts to work on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as sequel to Tom Sawyer, but stops several months later. |
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1878 |
Travels with family in Europe for nearly 2 years. |
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1879 |
Resumes work on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Stops at chapter 21. |
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Publishes A Tramp Abroad.
Jane Lampton (Jean) Clemens, daughter, born in Elmira.
Begins modest investments in Paige Compositor. |
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1881 |
Hires Louis Comfort Tiffany and Associated Artists to decorate public rooms of Hartford home.
Publishes The Prince and the Pauper. |
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1882 |
Travels down the Mississippi River to do research for Life on the Mississippi.
Witnessing the failure of Reconstruction in the south, Twain returns to work on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. |
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Publishes Life on the Mississippi.
Finishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. |
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1884 |
Founds Charles L. Webster Publishing and Co.
Lectures throughout United States. |
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1885 |
Publishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Charles L. Webster and Co. issues first volume of Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant. |
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1886 |
Forms partnership with James Paige to further develop Paige Compositor. Buys half-interest in invention. |
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1888 |
Awarded honorary Master of Arts degree at Yale University. |
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Publishes A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. |
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1890 |
Jane Lampton Clemens, mother, dies.
Olivia L. Langdon, mother-in-law, dies. |
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1891 |
Financial hardship forces family to leave Hartford home for less expensive life in Europe. |
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1892 |
Travels in Europe.
Meets Kaiser Wilhelm II and Prince Edward, Prince of Wales.
Returns to United States briefly on business.
Publishes The American Claimant. |
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Publishes Pudd'nhead Wilson.
Travels in Europe and United States.
Charles L. Webster and Co. fails.
Paige Compositor tested and found impractical commercial device.
Declares bankruptcy.
Publishes Tom Sawyer Abroad |
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1895 |
Beigns world lecture tour to Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon and South Africa to pay off debts. Clara and Livy travel with him. |
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1896 |
Meets Mahatma Gandhi.
Completes world lecture tour, returning triumphantly to England.
Susy Clemens dies of Spinal Meningitis in Hartford home.
Publishes Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. |
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Publishes Following the Equator (based on the world tour).
Lives and lectures in Europe. |
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1898 |
Meets Sigmund Freud.
Pays off creditors. |
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1899 |
Private audience with Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria-Hungary.
Meets Booker T. Washington. |
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1900 |
Returns to United States to live in New York City.
Introduces Winston Churchill to his first American lecture audience. |
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1901 |
Rents house in Riverdale, New York.
Receives honorary Doctor of Letters from Yale University.
Serves as Vice President for Anti-Imperialist League for the next 9 years.
Publishes "To the Person Sitting in Darkness."
Writes "The United States of Lyncherdom." |
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1902 |
Visits Hannibal for last time.
Receives honorary degree from University of Missouri.
Summers in York Harbor, Maine.
Livy becomes seriously ill. |
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Lives in New York and Italy.
Sells Hartford home to Bissell Family. |
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1904 |
Livy dies in Florence, Italy.
Twain returns to New York City. |
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1905 |
Dines at White House with President Theodore Roosevelt.
Publishes "The Czar's Soliloquy."
Publishes "King Leopold's Soliloquy."
Summers in Dublin, New Hampshire. |
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1906 |
Publishes Eve's Diary.
Testifies before Congress for Copyright legislation. (Wearing white suit-beginning trademark of wearing the white suit year-round in public). |
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Lives in New York City.
Continues to travel extensively
Awarded honorary Doctor of Letters by Oxford University (along with Rudyard Kipling, Auguste Rodin and Camille Saint-Saens). |
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Moves to "Stormfield" his new home in Redding, Connecticut. |
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1909 |
Travels to Bermuda.
Publishes "Is Shakespeare Dead?"
Clara Clemens marries Ossip Gabrilowitsch (Russian musician) at "Stormfield".
Dec. 24-Jean dies at "Stormfield".
Last writing: "Turning Point of My Life". |
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Travels to Bermuda for last time.
April 21-Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain dies at "Stormfield" at age 74.
"I came in with Halley's comet in 1835...I expect to go out with it"
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