Home » Education & Career » History For Children » The Boy From Hannibal

The Boy From Hannibal

© Meg Greene Malvasi

On November 30, 1835, as the famous Halley's Comet streaked across the evening sky, another important event was taking place at the home of John and Jane Clemens in Florida, Missouri. Making his entrance, two months ahead of schedule, was a brand new baby, the couple's fifth child and third boy. They named their new son Samuel Langhorne Clemens. We know him better as Mark Twain.

At the age of four, Sam's family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a busy port town on the Mississippi River. There John Clemens became a jack-of-all-trades, doing everything from running a general store to practicing law. Try as he might, though, John Clemens always struggled to keep his family fed and clothed. Despite his family's economic hardships,living in Hannibal was a memorable time for young Sam, providing the basis for many of the stories and characters he later wrote about.

Because of his father's law practice, Sam came into contact with many unpleasant aspects of life. Once he saw a man kill his slave because the slave did not complete a task to the owner's liking. A widow shot a man who threatened her. When he was only eight, Sam discovered the body of a murdered man in his father's office. Another time, Sam witnessed a murder just down the street from where he lived. Sam stored these experiences away and in time wrote about them in such books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Growing up in Hannibal also provided Sam with all kinds of opportunities to have fun and seek adventure. His best friend, Tom Blankenship, lived a life most boys only dreamed about. Free to come and go as he pleased, Tom spent most of his time baiting hooks and avoiding school books. Two other friends, John Briggs and Will Bowen, were always ready to romp through town, or build a raft, or explore one of the many caves found around Hannibal. Eventually all of his friends and their boyhood adventures found their way into Sam's writing. For the time being, though, they spent their days playing, exploring, and watching the steam boats come and go along the Mississippi.

More than anything else, Sam loved to go to the river. His dream was someday to travel on a ship and visit faraway places. One of Sam's earliest and grandest adventures came when he secretly slipped aboard a visiting steamboat. Hiding under one of the small row boats stored on the upper deck of the ship, Sam watched as the ship slowly pulled away on the next leg of its journey. At last, Sam was finally going to leave Hannibal! Unfortunately, a sharp-eyed crew member spotted a pair of legs underneath the boat and alerted the captain. At the next stop, the captain set Sam ashore where relatives took him home to his worried mother and angry father.

Mark Twain

Mark Twain and boyhood home

The copyright of the article The Boy From Hannibal in History For Children is owned by Meg Greene Malvasi. Permission to republish The Boy From Hannibal in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.