Where Did Mark Twain Go to School as a Child?

When Mark Twain was a child, he went to school in Hannibal, Missouri.  He spent most of his early years there but never completed his schooling because his father died when he was 11 years old.  The details of Mark Twain's childhood and life show a character with many accomplishments.

So, we know where Mark Twain went to school as a child - the town where he grew up, Hannibal Missouri. But, what else did Mark Twain do with his early life?

• Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri.  This was only two weeks after Halley's Comet appeared. 
• His dad was a country merchant and moved the family to Hannibal, Missouri, a town by the Mississippi River, in 1839. 
• Samuel had no formal education so his training was rudimentary at best. 
• However, his dad died when he was eleven and all the family members had to pitch in to support the family. 
• Mark Twain had to leave school where he attended as a child and grow up fast and get a job.  The way he helped out was to become a printer’s apprentice.

Twain's Early Career

Mark Twain went to school as a child in Hannibal but as a young adult, he went to St. Louis. 

• At 17 he was off to take a printing job. 
• While he was there, he became fascinated with river boating and became a licensed river boat captain. 
• It was these experiences on the river that gave him the idea for his most famous pen name, Mark Twain.  

Self-Education of Mark Twain

Even though Mark Twain didn’t go to school as a child for very long, he knew that no matter where he went in life, he could still educate himself. 

• He taught himself by reading and became a famous author and humorist. 
• When the river trade was non-existent because of the Civil War, he took a job as a newspaper reporter. 
• He even wound up in Nevada as a miner for a short time.  It was there that he picked his most used pen name.
•  It came from river boating terminology referring to the depth of the water.  ““Mark one” means the water is six feet deep (1 fathom), “mark twain” means it is 12 feet deep (2 fathoms), “mark ta-ree” is 18 feet (3 fathoms), and “mark four” is 24 feet (four fathoms).
•  Mark Twain means the water is safe to navigate.  He began using “Mark Twain” as a pseudonym in 1863.

Mark Twain’s Works         

Now that you know where Mark Twain went to school as a child, you might also want to learn more about his works:

• Other pen names that Samuel Clemens used include: Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, W. Epaminondas Adrastus Blab, Rambler, and Sergeant Fathom. 
• The first thing that he wrote that caught the public’s attention was an article he penned in 1865 for the New York Saturday Press called “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County". 
• His first book was published in 1869 and was titled The Innocents Abroad. 
• He is most well known for these two books: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which was published in 1876, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was published in 1885. 
• All in all, Mark Twain wrote 28 books and also published collections of essays and stories. 
• Four of his works were published after his death: Mark Twain's Autobiography, Mark Twain's Notebook, Letters from the Earth, and Queen Victoria's Jubilee. 

Death and Tributes to Mark Twain

Mark Twain announced in 1909 that he would die the next year when the Halley Comet reappeared.  He said, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.”  One day after the Halley Comet made its pass nearest to the earth, April 21, 1910, Samuel Clemens died of a heart attack.  He was 74 years old.

One of the best tributes to Mark Twain comes from Ernest Hemingway.  He said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”

In 1976, an asteroid was named for him: 2362 Mark Twain.

The USPS issued a stamped envelope in 1985 for him and Halley’s Comet.