He was 4 when him and his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, which was a town on the Mississippi River.
His family consisted of him and his siblings. He was the sixth of all 7 children and only 3 survived childhood.
This was an inspiration for the setting of his books, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The town is called St. Petersburg.
Where he was born - Missouri, was a slave state. This becomes a common theme in his novels.
1847 - His father passed away when he was 11 years old.
The year after he became a printers apprentice.
1851 - He began working as a typesetter for Hannibal Journals which was a newspaper owned by his brother Orion.
At the age of 18 he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis & Cincinnati.
He joined the International Typographical Union and the Printers union.
He educated himself by going to public libraries in the evening.
He wanted to become a pilot after going on a voyage to the New Orleans after being inspired by Horace E. Bixby who was also a pilot.
He received his steamboat pilot license in 1859
He convinced his brother Henry to work with him but he was killed after the steamboat he was working on exploded..
After the death of his brother, Mark Twain felt as thought he was responsible due to seeing this in a dream a month before the death of his brother. He held himself responsible for the rest of his life for the death of his brother.
He worked as a pilot until 1861 and the outbreak of the American Civil War.
At the start of the civil war, he enlisted in a Confederate local unit and left for Nevada to work for his brother, who was a senior official in the federal government.
His son Langdon died of diptheria at 19 months. He also had 3 daughters.
Mark Twain became bitter in his later years in 1896 when his daughter Susy died of meningitis, the death of his wife Olivia in 1904 and Jean's on 24th December 1909 deepened his gloom.
He formed two clubs in 1906, Angel Fish and Aquarium Club for girls aged 10 to 16 who he saw as surrogate granddaughters. He said it was his 'life's chief delight'. Mark Twain passed away of a heart attack on the 21st April in 1910 in Redding - Connecticut.
MARK TWAIN AND HIS WRITING STYLE
When he first began writing, he started off writing as humorous and light.
His writing evolved to a more dark and murderous tone.
In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he uses a combination of humorous and social criticism.
He used taboo language in the novel Huckleberry Finn.