He was born in a little town of Florida, Missouri in 1835, shortly after his family had moved there. When he was about four, the family moved again to Hannibal, a small town situated on the Mississippi river. In this small river side town with large forests Mark grew up, taking wild chances and participating in outrageous pranks.
He was charmed by the river. Rafts and steamboats traveled day and night to places a small boy could only dimly imagine. Yet in a sensitive boy this imagination grew into a strong creative force.
After father death, he was apprenticed to a printer. Here he acquired a variety of printing and newspaper skills. Later he worked for the Hannibal Journal.
Mark left Hannibal in 1853, to work for a newspaper in St. Louis. This was the beginning of a lifelong pattern of travel- New York and Philadelphia. At 20 he traveled more that most young men of his age.
Later he stayed in Cincinnati where he firmed up his idea of going to South America. For four years he worked in the pilot house of steamboats traveling up and down the Mississippi. Out of these years came source materials for his greatest books. …
