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 Archer Porter Tait William Archer Porter Tait William Archer Porter Tait FRSE FRMS MICE (1866–1929) was a 19th/20th century Scottish civil engineer and part of the Guthrie Tait dynasty. He was Vice President of the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1929. He was born on 25 March 1866 at 6 Greenhill Gardens in south-east Edinburgh, the second son of Peter Guthrie Tait and his wife, Margaret Porter. He was named after his maternal uncle, William Archer Porter. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy. From 1881 he studied Engineering at Edinburgh University under Prof Fleeming Jenkin graduating BSc in 1885. He was then apprenticed