Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was born on November 30, 1835 and later died on April 21, 1910. He was best known as an American humorist and for his realistic view of America in the early 19th century through his novels and other short stories he had written. He aroused the interest of the entire world through his writings and lectures. Twain was born shortly after the visit of Halley's Comet and predicted that he would come out with it on his next visit as well. He then died the day after the comet's next return. Twain was born in the small town of Florida, Missouri. He lived in a small two bedroom house and was the fourth of five children, obviously their house was very crowded. Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri when he was 4 years old, right next to the Mississippi River, which gave him the settings and inspiration for some of the books he wrote "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer." Twain's life was going very well until the age of twelve. At that age, in 1847, his father died of pneumonia. As expected, Twain was shocked by the loss of his father because he was so young and that was when his days of formal learning ended. For him he began working as a printer's apprentice to raise funds. Twain was prepared for his future career by working with a printer and reading extensively in his free time. When Mark Twain worked as a printer and wrote articles for his older brother Orion Clemens' newspaper. When Twain worked for his brother in the production of a newspaper "The Hannibal Journal" This is where Twain began to write seriously and where he first published his writings. He contributed his reports, skits, poems... half a paper... to the newspaper and all his debts were finally paid in 1898. He did this by working hard and continuing to write and set out on a world speaking tour. By traveling around the world such as South America, Australia and India, he had managed to pay off all his debts. when he finally returned to America he returned as an international hero. Twain enjoyed this publicity for a while until it unfortunately started to affect his family. His eldest daughter, Suzy, died of meningitis in 1896, and in 1903 he sold his house in Hartford where he had written most of his novels. These unfortunate events still did not stop and the following year, on June 5, 1904, his wife died of heart failure, which turned his life upside down. His youngest daughter, Jean, had died on Christmas Eve 1909 and soon after Twain's death from heart disease on April 21, 1910, she was 74 years old when she died..