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 Porter (Attorney General) however, was quite typical for Porter's personality. He also turned down a knighthood and a chief justiceship among other offers. He retired from politics in 1873 and returned to Ireland, leaving a prosperous, democratic and stable Cape Colony with a rapidly growing economy. He settled in Belfast for his final years and died in 1880. The tiny town of Porterville, Western Cape, (est.1863) was named after him. William Porter (Attorney General) William Porter (1805–1880) was attorney-general of the Cape Colony and a drafter of its first constitution in 1854. William Porter was born in Ireland (Derry) on 15 September 1805