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
Robert William Porter Robert William Porter Robert William Porter (August 13, 1926 – November 6, 1991) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Born in Monmouth, Illinois, Porter was in the United States Navy during World War II, from 1944 to 1946. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Monmouth College in 1949 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1952. He was home office counsel of the Reserve Life Insurance Company in Dallas, Texas from 1952 to 1954. He then went into private practice as an