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 Dwight Porter Bliss French and Belgian soldiers interned in Switzerland. After the War, Bliss returned to the United States and preached in New York City until his death in that city on October 8, 1926. Bliss is honored together with Richard Theodore Ely with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on October 8. William Dwight Porter Bliss William Dwight Porter Bliss (August 20, 1856 – October 8, 1926) was an American Christian socialist writer, editor, and activist, as well as a pioneer historian of the world socialist movement. William Dwight Porter Bliss was born in Constantinople, Turkey