Let's Talk TWAIN!

Today's Google front page cover art is dedicated to Mark Twain. Today is his 176th birthday. Most of his family (with the exception of his immediate family - wife and children!) are buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in my hometown of Hannibal, MO.  Their graves are not too far from the graves of the people who were the inspiration for the characters of Injun Joe and the Widow Douglas. Mark Twain's parents (the inspiration for Aunt Polly and Judge Thatcher), as well as his siblings and in-laws are all buried there.  My biological paternal grandmother is buried just a few feet away.

The grave of Injun Joe in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Hannibal, MO  The Widow Douglas' grave is immediately to the left of Injun Joe's:



My grandmother, Rose Lee Keller, is buried just a few feet away from this stone. (Note that Injun Jo died in 1923 - at the age of 102 !)

These are the headstones for the rest of Mark Twain's family, in Mt. Olivet cemetery, Hannibal, MO:

A link to John M. Clemens' ("Judge Thatcher") FindAGrave.com:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21749

Mark Twain, his wife and children are all buried in Elmira, NY:


Mark Twain's FindAGrave.com entry:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1048

Unlike Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer),  Laura Hawkins Frazer ("Becky Thatcher") never moved from the Hannibal area, and is buried just 11 miles outside Hannibal, in the small town of Rensselaer, MO:


Laura Hawkins Frazer / Becky Thatcher's FindAGrave.com page:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21754

I'll never forget my high school English teacher, Mrs. Nona Long-Clark , running into the classroom after the tardy bell rang, slamming her text book down on her desk, throwing her head back, and yelling, "OK! Let's talk TWAIN!" We had an entire semester dedicated solely to Mark Twain.

But then, on the other hand, while reciting an entire piece from Edgar Allen Poe, Mrs. Long-Clark would turn beet red, her eyes would roll back in her head, she would go into convulsions, and throw herself backwards over her desk, and ultimately end up flat on her back on the floor, all the while never missing a word, and keeping an entire class full of high school juniors absolutely spellbound by reciting Poe. I was an adult before I realized that this feat - holding the attention of an entire class full of juniors by reciting Poe - is TRUE TALENT!

(Coincidentally, Laura Ingalls Wilder, of "Little House on the Prairie" fame is buried not far outside Springfield, MO.  Walnut Groves was a small town in Missouri, not Minnesota, as depicted in the TV series, that is another blog for another day!)

- Michael