January 4 Wednesday – In Hartford Sam inscribed P&P to A.V.S. Anthony: “To / A.V.S. Anthony / With Sentiments of esteem, / appreciation, & tenderness, / from / The Author / Hartford, Jan. 4, 1882” [MTP].

Sam also wrote to James R. Osgood about distribution of P&P to British possessions outside of Canada through McMillan. Sam didn’t care how it was done or how many were sold that way, he simply didn’t want cheaper versions flooding into the U.S. He also saw an opportunity to act in concert with Osgood as agents:

January 2 Monday – Edward House and daughter Koto arrived for a visit. Sam inscribed P&P to Koto, House’s adopted Japanese daughter: To / Koto House / With the affectionate regards of / The Author / Hartford Jan.2, 1882 [MTP]. Note: in his Dec. 27 to House Sam announced Koto would get the China paper edition.

Sam also wrote to Charles Webster:

“Dear Charley— Make me a copper stamp. I am on track of a way by which you can harden it afterwards, & make it as hard as brass. I hear this from the head of the Bank Note Co.” [MTP].

May  21 Saturday – John Marshall Clemens purchased a somewhat larger house on the south side of Main Street in Florida, Missouri for $1,050 from Sam’s grandfather, Benjamin Lampton (1770-1837), who had occupied the house and moved to the country [Wecter 46].

November 30 Wednesday – Baby Sam’s first  birthday.
 

November  30 Monday – Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) was born two months  premature in the hamlet of Florida, Missouri to John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847) and Jane Lampton Clemens (1803-1890). The baby was named Samuel, for  John’s father; Langhorne, for the friend of John  Marshall’s who had helped him in his youth in Virginia.

November 3 Wednesday – Sam lectured in Johnstown,  Pennsylvania [MTL 3: 385].

Note: It is possible that Sam did  not speak in Brookville or Johnstown – more newspaper evidence  might confirm. Letters Sam wrote Livy between Nov. 6 and 9 (Livy’s numbers 129-132) are  lost [MTL 3:  391n4].
 

January 1 Sunday – Schwartz Bros. (soon to be F.A.O. Schwartz), New York, billed Sam $3.50 for doll parts: “1 head, 1 wig, repackage doll.” Note: stamped on invoice: “bills rendered Jan. May and Oct.”; Park & Tilford, fancy groceries, New York billed Sam $36.88 for two kinds of jelly, “2 doz Glen Whiskey”, paid Jan. 11 [MTP].

November 30 Tuesday – Sam’s sixth birthday.
 

October  13 Wednesday – The Clemenses were forced to transfer the title  of their home property to James Kerr, a St. Louis dry-goods  merchant to whom they were most indebted [Wecter  70]. Note: The indebtedness may have  stemmed from funds John Marshall borrowed to buy the Tennessee Land,  incurred before the family moved to Hannibal.
 

September   – John Marshall Clemens sat on a jury at Palmyra which condemned and sent to the penitentiary  three abolitionists for a term of twelve years [Dempsey  42; Wecter 72]. Note:  See Dempsey, chapters 5 & 6, for a full account of the “crime” and trial of  James Burr, George Thompson, and Alanson Work, “the  biggest criminal case in Marion County.”