O. Henry O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. His stories are known for their surprise endings. William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died after birthing her third child, and he and his
William Hickey (writer) says of him: William Hickey was the father of J. S. Hickey, Protestant rector of Goresbridge, and grandfather of the author and poet, Emily Henrietta Hickey. William Hickey (writer) Reverend William Hickey, also known as Martin Doyle (1787 – 24 October 1875) was an Irish writer and philanthropist. A descendant of the Ó hÍceadha family of physicians, he was the eldest son of Rev. Ambrose Hickey, Church of Ireland rector of Murragh, County Cork. He graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge, and received his M.A. from the University of Dublin. He was ordained in 1811 and appointed curate of Dunleckny,