MARK TWAIN’S TROUBLED TENNESSEE ROOTS

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, the great American humorist, was born in Florida, Mo., on Nov. 30, 1835. His life began there because his father Marshall’s luck had run out in Tennessee.

Born in Virginia, Marshall, who was named for John Marshall, left the Piedmont first for Kentucky as a boy after his father’s death. When his farm failed there, he and his wife, Jane, moved again, this time to Fentress County, Tennessee. There he became a self-educated lawyer and land speculator. Marshall began buying up land until he had more than 70,000 acres of virgin, yellow pine acreage, for which he had paid only $400. His hope was that a day would come, when railroads, possibly from Cincinnati, would penetrate the mountains and haul timber from his forests and make him and his family a fortune.

Instead, the Tennessee land investment only triggered the Clemens family’s decline into poverty. This financial failure haunted Marshall and his family for decades and “fueled Sam Clemens’ lifelong anxiety over money.” Marshall, desperate for money, moved his family to Jamestown, where he opened a general store, where his family also lived. The Clemens’ first child, Pamela, was born there in 1827.

One or two years later, Pleasant Hannibal was born in Jamestown. He lived only three weeks. In 1830, Margaret was born. With a growing family, Marshall began having headaches, which became increasingly severe. As his tiny store did not bring in sufficient income to feed his family, he uprooted them again and in 1831 moved to a clearing in the woods at the confluence of three small streams. There, he built a cabin and opened a country store where he was postmaster. He also tried to farm land so poor that it was almost unfarmable.

The financial crash of 1834 wiped out his credit. So, in 1835, he moved one more time to Missouri, where his wife’s sister lived. Her husband had written Marshall praising the country in these words, “It is the grandest country —the loveliest land — the purest atmosphere. I can’t describe it; no pen could do it justice.”

Soon after arrival, Samuel Clemens was born. His father once again operated a general store with his brother-inlaw, and began acquiring land, which was extremely fertile. He prospered somewhat and, in 1837, was named a judge in the Monroe County Court. Jane and Marshall had seven children, too many to pay much attention to Samuel.

In 1838, the Clemens moved once again, this time to Paris, Mo., 10 miles away where there was a racetrack. Florida had become a backwater. A year later, Marshall saw an advertisement in a small newspaper saying that property was available in Hannibal, Mo., some 40 miles to the northeast. The Clemens moved there, where Marshall, with the help of his oldest son, Orion, opened still another store, one Hannibal didn’t need. Marshall remained poor all his life which ended in 1847. His widow, Jane, lived a long life, dying at age 87.