Timeline

1835: On November 30, Halley's Comet lights up the sky; Samuel Langhorne Clemens is born in Florida, Missouri 

1839: The Clemens family moves to Hannibal, Missouri

1842: Sam's brother Benjamin dies

1847: Mark's father dies of pneumonia at the age of 49; Twain starts working with his brother Orion as printer's apprentice for the "Journal"

1851: Twain publishes 2 short non-fiction stories about Hannibal  in a newspaper; a magazine publishes Samuel's "The Yankee Frightening the Squatter" under the signature S.L.C.

1852: Clemens writes about Hannibal for the "American Courier" in Philadelphia, but he wrote something unreal about Indians in Hannibal.

1853: Mark leaves Hannibal to travel around the world. He stayed briefly in cities like St. Louis, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati working for low wages.

1854: Sam's brother Orion urges Sam to write for the newspaper office he bought in Muscatine, Iowa; Sam replies and says he would only write occasionally for fear that his stories would be boring because of all his night work.

1857: Mark starts training to become a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River.

1858: His brother Henry dies. A couple days before be dies, Mark has a vision of his brother in a coffin. During the funeral, the coffin looks exactly like what Mark had imagined it to be.

1861: Civil War starts and Mark joins the Confederate army. He deserts the army after 2 weeks and travels to Nevada.

1863: Sam starts using the pen name Mark Twain in his writing instead of Samuel Clemens.

1868: He makes his money only by being a traveling lecturer.

1870: Mr. Clemens marries Olivia Langdon; their son Langdon is born

1872: Twain's daughter is born. They name her Susie. Unfortunately, their son Langdon dies a couple months after her birth.

1874: Mark moves to his huge mansion in Connecticut. His other daughter is born who's name is Clara.

1880: Jane (another daughter) is born.

1895: Clemens goes around the world and gives lectures to pay off his debts.

1909: His daughter, Jane, dies.

1910: Mark Twain dies.