Mark Twain Timeline Essay, Research Paper

Samuel Clemens

1861 In Hannibal, forms the voluntary militia group Marion Rangers with 14 young men; after two weeks of training, the unit disbands. Clemens goes to Nevada with his brother Orion, who is appointed secretary of a new territory. Clemens clerks for the Nevada Territorial Legislature.

1862 Works for Virginia City Territorial Enterprise

1863 Lives in Virginia City; adopts pen name Mark Twain.

1864 Moves to San Francisco; works for San Francisco Call

1865 Mines at Angel’s Camp, California; writes for San Francisco newspapers.

1866 Travels to Hawaii, writes travel correspondence to Sacramento Union and Alta, California. Gives first lecture about the Sandwich Islands; goes on 16-engagement lecture tour through California and Nevada. Leaves San Francisco for New York.

1867 Lives in New York City. Publishes first book, The Celebrated Jumping of Calaveras County. Sails on the Quaker City to Europe and the Mideast (June to November); writes travel letters about the voyage to the Alta California. Meets future wife Olivia Langdon. Moves to Washington, D.C., to be private secretary to Senator William Stewart.

1868 Lives in Washington; travels and lectures in California and Nevada; moves between New York, Hartford, and Elmira, N.Y. Becomes engaged to Olivia Langdon.

1869 Conducts a lecture tour through Midwest. Buys interest in the Buffalo Express. Publishes Innocents Abroad, his account of the Quaker City excursion. Goes on a 45-engagement lecture tour.

1870 Marries Olivia Langdon in Elmira, N.Y.; lives in Buffalo, N.Y.; works for the Buffalo Express as an editor and writer.

1871 Puts interest in Express and his Buffalo home up for sale; moves to Elmira with family. Begins five-month lecture tour through the East in October.

1872 Moves to home in Hartford, Connecticut. Publishes Roughing It, an account of his early years in Nevada and California. Travels to England for three months. Daughter Susy Clemens is born.

1873 Signs deed to Nook Farm property in Hartford; joins Monday Evening Club. Travels to England with family (May-November); meets Robert Browning, Ivan Turgenev, Lewis Caroll, and others in London; lectures in England.

1874 Daughter Clara born.

1875 Publishes Tom Sawyer.

1878 Contracts with Elisha Bliss for another book about Europe; travels with family to Europe (April 1878-September 1879). Visits Germany, the Swiss and French Alps, and Italy.

1879 In Paris, Belgium, the Netherlands, and England, before returning to Hartford.

1880 Publishes A Tramp Abroad. Daughter Jean Clemens is born.

1881 Publishes The Prince and the Pauper.

1883 Publishes Life on the Mississippi.

1884 Lectures in Midwest and East. Founds Charles W. Webster and Co. publishing house.

1885 Celebrates 50th birthday. Publishes Huckleberry Finn . Webster & Co. publishes U.S. Grant’s Memoirs.

1886 Forms partnership with James Paige to develop Paige Compositor.

1889 Publishes A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Signs a new agreement with Paige.

1890 Buys all rights to Paige Compositor. Mother Jane Clemens and mother-in-law Olivia Langdon die.

1908 Visits Bermuda. Moves to his last home, “Stormfield,” in Redding, Connecticut. Organizes “Angelfish Club.”

1909 Lives at Stormfield. Delivers his last public speech. Diagnosed with heart disease. Publishes Is Shakespeare Dead, Captain Stormfield? Clara Clemens marries Ossip Gabrilowitsch. Jean Clemens dies at Stormfield.

1910 Visits Bermuda on last trip outside U.S. Dies on April 21 at Stormfield. Buried at

Elmira’s Woodlawn Cemetery.