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 Field Porter England). He abandoned the settlement in 1840. Although Porter’s tenure in Port Lincoln only lasted 18 months, he had, nevertheless, been appointed the first Magistrate of the Eyre Peninsula and his family left its name at 'Porter Bay'. In May 1841, Porter arrived in [[Auckland]], New Zealand. He built a house and store on Auckland's waterfront and commenced trading from there with stock brought on the "Porter". He also invested in land in and around Auckland and bought interests in land claims from before 1840. Later he developed a farm at [[Kohimarama]]. In 1841 Governor [[William Hobson|Willam Hobson]] appointed Porter