Mark Twain three of his siblings survived childhood: Orion (1825–1897), Henry (1838–1858), and Pamela (1827–1904). His sister Margaret (1830–1839) died when Twain was three, and his brother Benjamin (1832–1842) died three years later. His brother Pleasant Hannibal (1828) died at three weeks of age. When he was four, Twain's family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a port town on the Mississippi River that inspired the fictional town of St. Petersburg in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Slavery was legal in Missouri at the time, and it became a theme in these writings. His father was an attorney
Mark Twain in Nevada stories in the "Mercury" in 1864, and due to his encouragement Twain would later send his story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" to New York in 1865 where it would become a national success.) Despite Ward's early death in March 1867, "The Mark Twain Encyclopedia" states: "His style, manner, and mantle…[were] adopted by others, including especially Mark Twain. ...the attitudes and persona of Ward were influential on Twain's literary comedy in both general and specific ways." In January 1864, Twain began covering another legislative session in Carson City. Thanks in part to his familial political connections, Twain's political