October  13, 1856 Monday

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October  13 Monday – Sam made a brief stay in St. Louis, staying with his mother,  and sister. He attended the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical  Association Fair. He wrote a sketch of it,  titled “The Great Fair at St. Louis,” signed, “SAM,” which appeared in the  Keokuk Post on Oct. 21 and then in the Saturday Post on Oct. 25 [MTL 1: 69].
 

October 1840

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October   – John Marshall sold on credit about $1,000 for merchandise  bought wholesale to one Ira Stout, who then used the new  bankruptcy laws to avoid payment. Ultimately this led to the loss of the  Clemens home [Wecter 56].
 

July  28 and 29 Wednesday 1840

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– The Log Cabin Campaign rally on Market Street in Hannibal would surely have included John Marshall,  a devout Whig. Jane Lampton Clemens loved parades and funerals. Four  and a half year old Sam no doubt witnessed the celebration [Wecter 58]. Note: For more about Jane Clemens  as recalled by her granddaughter Annie Moffett Webster in Fredonia, see May  22, 1870 entry.
 

Spring 1840

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Spring – Sam started school  at Mrs. Horr’s school in  Hannibal, a small log cabin at the  southern end of Main Street, near Bear Creek. Elizabeth Horr (ca.1790-1873) and  daughter Miss Lizziewere the only teachers. On Sam’s first day of  school he broke a rule twice and was told to go find a switch for his punishment. He kept looking for smaller and smaller switches until he came back  with a cooper’s shaving (a cooper is a barrel maker). Later, Miss Mary Ann  Newcomb(1809-1894) would help at the school [Wecter 54].

November 15, 1878 Friday

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– The Clemens family was up at 6 AM and traveled all day. After twelve hours they arrived in Munich, Germany. At 7 PM they arrived, in “drizzle & fog at  the domicil which had been engaged for us ten months before” [MTLE 3: 94].

November 14, 1878 Thursday

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– The Clemens family left Bologna at noon and traveled until 10:30 PM to reach Trent in the  Austrian Tyrol, by way of “Modena, Mantua, & Verona.” Sam was acting as the  courier for the group and thought himself “a shining success…so far” [MTNJ 2: 249; MTLE 3:97].