One of our favorite places to visit was Hannibal Missouri to visit all the Mark Twain memorabilia. There are several homes to visit, and they have dedicated the entire town to Samuel Clemens. I even had my picture with Mark Twain. You don't believe me! Well, I have the picture to prove it, and will put it on here as soon as I locate it on the computer.
Do you know how Mark Twain got his name. I didn't either, but while we were in Hartford, Connecticut going through his home there, the guide told us the history of his name.
Back then many writers took pen names. Of course we all knew that Mark Twain was a pen name of Samuel Clemens.
When it was suggested to him to choose a name he said he had it picked out, and chose it a long time ago.
He tell in all his stories about his river days and the time he spent on River Boats. The captain or a crew member counts the - nevermind my telling the story. Here it is from the website:
He maintained that his primary pen name came from his years working on Mississippi riverboats, where two fathoms, a depth indicating "safe water" for the boat to float over, was measured on the sounding line. A fathom is a maritime unit of depth, equivalent to two yards (six feet, approximately 1.8 metres); "twain" is an archaic term for "two". The riverboatman's cry was "mark twain" or, more fully, "by the mark twain", meaning "according to the mark [on the line], [the depth is] two [fathoms]", that is, "there are 12 feet of water under the boat and it is safe to pass".
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