Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, is perhaps the most
             distinguished author of American Literature. Next to William Shakespeare, Clemens is
             arguably the most prominent writer the world has ever seen.
             In 1818, Jane Lampton found interest in a serious young lawyer named John
             Clemens. With the Lampton family in heavy debt and Jane only 15 years of age, she soon
             married John. The family moved to Gainesboro, Tennessee where Jane gave birth to
             Orion Clemens. In the summer of 1827 the Clemenses relocated to Virginia where John
             purchased thousands of acres of land and opened a legal advice store. The lack of
             success of the store led John to drink heavily. Scared by his addiction, John
             vowed never to drink again. Even though John now resisted alcohol, he faced other
             addictions. His concoction of aloe, rhubarb, and a narcotic cost him most of his savings
             and money soon became tight (Paine 34-35).
             The family soon grew with the birth of Pamela late in 1827. Their third child,
             Pleasant Hannibal, did not live past three months, due to illness. In 1830 Margaret was
             born and the family moved to Pall Mall, a rural county in Tennessee. After Henry's birth
             in 1832, the value of their farmland greatly depreciated and sent the Clemenses on the
             road again. Now they would stay with Jane's sister in Florida, Missouri where she ran a
             successful business with her husband. Clemens was born on November 30, 1835, in the
             small remote town of Florida, Missouri. Samuel's parents, John Marshall and Jane
             Lampton Clemens never gave up on their child, who was two months premature with little
             This was coincidentally the same night as the return of Halley's Comet. The
             Clemenses were a superstitious family and believed that Halley's Comet was a portent of
             good fortune. Writing as Mark Twain, Samuel L. Clemens would claim that Florida,
             Missouri "contained 1...