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 T. Porter 1856, another printer, George Wilkes, began a new sporting newspaper, which he called "Porter's Spirit of the Times", and employed Porter as editor. In 1845, Porter served as secretary for the New York Jockey Club, during the famous match race between the fillies Fashion and Peytona at the Union Course on May 15, 1845. Although the "Spirit" and the "American Turf Register" were known for their coverage of horse racing, Porter's main sporting interest for himself was fishing. Porter never married, and three of his brothers died before Porter himself caught a cold and died of consumption on July 19,