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 Vaughan (writer) William Vaughan (writer) Sir William Vaughan (c. 1575 – August 1641) was a Welsh writer in English and Latin, who promoted colonization in Newfoundland. He was the son of Walter Vaughan (died 1598) and was born at Golden Grove (Gelli Aur), Llanfihangel Aberbythych, Carmarthenshire, Wales – the estate of his father, through whom he was descended from an ancient prince of Powys. He was brother to John Vaughan, 1st Earl of Carbery (1572−1634) and Henry Vaughan (1587−1659), a well-known Royalist leader in the English Civil War. William was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 4 February 1592,