Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, Hannibal, Mo., May 18, 2013

After leaving the Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri I decided to skip, for now, my visit to the St. Louis, Missouri area and instead go on to Hannibal, Missouri to see the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum.  Just a few miles out of Independence I came upon a traffic jam. Traffic standing still. After a few minutes the traffic started inching forward. About the same time I could hear numerous sirens and see flashing police and emergency vehicle lights coming up behind me.This stretch of interstate is 3 lanes wide and all 3 lanes were standing still. Some of the emergency vehicles managed to get by on the shoulder only to be blocked by cars that had pulled over to make way for these emergency vehicles. It was quiet a mess. About 3 miles up the road there was a very bad accident involving a couple of cars and a couple of semi trailers. The cars were in the left lane and the trucks were on the right lane and shoulder.  Finally, the police got one lane marked with cones so one lane of traffic could weave through the accident area. The oncoming traffic was partially blocked by emergency vehicles which had arrived at the scene from the other direction so there was a major traffic jam on that side as well. I lost tract of how long I was delayed in this jam but it was considerable.

Accident Traffic Jam

Traffic Trying To Work Itself Through Accident Scene

The route I took to get to Hannibal took me north from Kansas City then east across northern Missouri. I finally stopped for the night at Acron /Cameron Missouri at a Best Western Motel.  After unloading the car and getting settled in the room I found right next to the motel a Long John Silver's food place and bought my supper. Great food but I continue to be amazed that all of this franchise locations have a common problem and that is running out of food or soft drinks. In this case they had run out of ice. OK I had ice in the cooler. Morning arrived with a beautiful sunrise and a great hot breakfast at the Best Western then on the road again. The drive to Hannibal was beautiful. Little traffic and some of the most beautiful farm land I have ever seen. Hugh field being readied for corn or soybeans. Like I said I have never seen this portion of Missouri.

Hannibal, Missouri With Mississippi River And State Of  Illinois On Right

Hannibal, Missouri is a quaint little town along the Mississippi River and has a population of about 18,000 in 2010. Hannibal is located in northeast Missouri about 100 miles north of St Louis, 200 miles east of Kansas City and 300 miles southwest of Chicago. The site of Hannibal was previously occupied by early settlers and Native American tribes and its origin goes back to Spanish land grants. Hannibal grew from 30 in 1830 to over 2,000 by 1830. This growth was spurred by access to the Mississippi river and railroad transportation. Hannibal was a marketing center for livestock and grain and other local commodities such as shoes and cement. In fact cement for the Empire State Building and the Panama Canal was made by the Atlas Portland Cement Company nearby. Hannibal has been the birth place of many notable personages and featured or mentioned in song and story. But, of course Hannibal is best known as the  boyhood home of author Mark Twain ( Samuel Langhorne Clemens ) and as the setting of his The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and many sites depicted in his writings. As you would expect the area and businesses capitalize on these famous names that are in his famous books.

The main attraction of course is the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum which goes by the name of the Mark Twain Museum Properties. These properties include the Interpretive Center where you buy your ticket, the Tom & Huck Statue at Cardiff Hill, Huckleberry Finn House, Mark Twain Boyhood Home, Becky Thatcher House, J. M. Clemens - Justice of Peace Office, Grant's Drug Store and the Museum Gallery.

Entrance To Area And The Famous White Fence That Was 

Painted Or Was Suppose To Paint By Tom Sawyer

Samuel  L. Clemens parents Jane and John Marshall Clemens moved from town to town as their family grew and their resources declined. They were proud of their family history of land owners in Virginia. Jane and John were married in 1823. They traveled to Kentucky, Tennessee and then to Missouri from town to town taking the six slaves they had inherited with them. John failed as a farmer, lawyer and store owner. With each move the family grew poorer. The house hold grew larger with the birth of the children but also shrank as they sold all but one of the slaves. In Florida, Missouri John was elected to the court and he took the name of judge. The little black house in the upper right is suppose to be the house where Sam was born.

The white house on the left is boyhood home of Samuel Clemens. I am not sure what the building on he right is. In the lower portion of the photograph you can see how busy the dock area was with steamers anchored to discharge or receive materials for shipment. The family consisted of Mother Jane, Father John and children, (  Orion, Parnela, Samuel and Henry ), and the female slave Jerunle ?.  The family was no more successful in Hannibal than they had been in other places and finally had to sell the remaining slave to payoff debts.

Slavery in all its grotesqueness was common to Sam as he grew up and he did not see it as wrong until later in life. It was common place and his mother had lived with it for 60 years. She was a kind and compassionate person who had never heard slavery assailed in a church sermon but heard it defended and sanctioned in a thousand sermons and like most people she did not see it as wrong. Slaves were a source of virtually free labor and a source of income as Sam saw for his family as they often rented slaves from owners  and eventually sold their own slaves to pay off debts.

Sam Clemens grew up in a small village of about 1,000 when he moved there with his family in 1939. This was up from 30 in 1930 when about 90% of Americans lived in small villages and in the country.Sam had a lot of fun as he grew up with plenty of his school mates although their rough and tumble antics often ended badly. The financial difficulty of the family did not bother Sam as he played with his friends. I suppose like most kids his age he had no real understanding of what the family was going through financially. In  1870 Sam recalled that in general he was a unadventurous boy but once he jumped off the top of a two story stable and another time he gave a plug of tobacco to an elephant and retired without waiting for an answer. I am not sure what he meant by this unless he is saying he left without waiting for the elephant to say thank you or how the elephant might react to the tobacco. 

In his Autobiography Sam indicated his school days started when he was 4 1/2 years old. There were no public schools in Missouri but there were two private schools costing twenty five cents per pupil to be collected if you can. Mrs. Horr was the teacher and the classes were held in a small log house at the southern end of Main Street. Mr. Sam Cross taught the larger children in a frame house on the hill. In school, Sam recalled, they were taught about envy and the passion of envy had no place in their hearts, except in the case of Arch Fuqua. They all went barefoot in the summertime and Arch was about his age that being 10 or 11 years old.  Sam indicated Arch " was our envy " because he could double back his big toe and let it fly and you could hear it snap 30 yards away.

You will recall that Sam's family moved from Florida, Missouri to Hannibal when he was four years old but they often went back to visit his mother's sister Martha and her husband John Quarles. In his Autobiography Sam indicated that his Uncle John's farm was a heavenly place to visit and his life there during these visits with his cousins was full of " charm ". He loved the fall leaves and how they would " plow " through them. He especially recalled the " coon and possum " hunts with the Negroes and the long marches through the black gloomy woods. Then the excitement of hearing a distant baying of the dog announcing that the game had been treed. He indicated he remembered the excitement every one got out of it " except the coon ".

As previously noted Hannibal was and is a river community and the river is of major importance from the point of danger of flooding to a major source  of industry to daily living especially for youngsters like Sam and his buddies. They had but one ambition  and that was to be a steamboat man. Sam said that now and then they had the hope that if they lived and were good God would permit them to be pirates.

In 1847 when Sam was 11 years old his father, John Clemens died. His father was 49 years old at death. After his fathers death the family moved back into the Hill Street house. His mother took in boarders to make ends meet. All the children contributed as they were able to help the family. His mother permitted him to leave home and work as an printer's apprentice . He lived with and ate with the printer and this lessened  his mother's family expenses. Orion his oldest brother lived and worked in St Louis as a printer and earned a wages and he helped his  mother and younger brother Henry who was 2 yeas younger than Sam. His sister Pamela taught piano lesson to help support the family. Sam in his Autobiography said they got by but " it was pretty rough sledding ". Orion did not move to Hannibal until 2 years after the fathers death.

Samuel Clemens has started in the " word " business. He left school school upon his father's death and at the age of 18 became an apprentice in the Hannibal Courier. He was apprenticed to Mr. Joseph Ament a printer and newspaper publisher.

Sam learns a style of writing.

Sam's older brother Orion moves to Hannibal and buys a newspaper and hires Sam but never pays him.

Old Printing Press

Proposed Sculpture Honoring Twain's 100th Anniversary In 1935. It was never built.

Samuel Clemens Leaves Hannibal

Injun Joe From The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

Direction Sign

Plaque About The Huckleberry Finn House

Tom Blankenship ( Huckleberry Finn ) House

Identifying Huck Finn's House

Layout Of Hannibal One Year After Sam ( Mark Twain ) Left Hannibal

All About Household Furnishings In Huckleberry's Home

Table & Utensil In Huck's House

Fireplace And Cooking Utensils In Huck's House

Real Life Tom Blankenship is believed to have been the person who Sam ( Mark Twain " used as the character he developed as Huckleberry Finn.

Tom Blankenship's Older Brother

Tom Blankenship As Portrayed in Huckleberry Finn

Identifies That Huckleberry Finn Was Tom Blankenship

Tom Blankenship Is Huck Finn

Tom Blankenship Identified As A " Bad Boy "

Sam Often Skips School

Household Furnishings Of The Blankenship Home

The Next Several Photographs Are Of Sam Clemens ( Mark Twain's ) Home. Several Will Have A Comment By Clemens. I lost Count Of How Many Of These Life Size Statues There Were.

Sam's Desk

Portrait Of Samuel Clemens

Information About he Dining Room

Dining Area

Mark Twain's Notebook 

Kitchen Area. Slaves Slept On The Floor On A Rug And Cloths Piled Up. They Slept By The Fire For Warmth But More Importantly To Keep The Fire Burning.

Mark Twain At Table

Bed Room. Note The Depiction Of A Boy Slipping Out The Window

Bed Room With Sam Clemens Looking Out A Window. Notice The Bed Room Has A Stove And Wash Basin

Comments About A Person - Nothing Can Ever Remove It

Comments From Life On The Mississippi

The next few photographs tell about slavery in the Clemens Household. I trust you will be able to read them but if not let me know and I will do them so they are legible.

In looking at the above photographs I see I did not line them up very well when I took the photographs. Perhaps that shows how tired I was getting and had a lot more to go but I hope you can get the general drift of what is being said.

Sam Clemens  Father's Law Office. Notice What Young Sam Saw

Mark Twain's Father's Law Office

Young Sam Spends Night In His Father's Office

Now You Can Read It

This Is What Young Sam Saw As The Moon Lit Up The Room

Becky Thadchers Home  Not Open For Viewing

Mark Twain Museum

Outline Of The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn Story

Sam's Trip Out West On Stage Coach With His Brother Orion

J & B Overland Express Stage Coach 
Model Of Cincinnati & Louisville Mail Line Steam Boat. It Was The Dream Of Sam And All Of His Boyhood Friends To Work On A Steamboat And Especially To Captain One Of These Marvelous Ships.

Information About The Steamboat New Orleans Below

Model Of Steamboat New Orleans

The following several photographs are of a short story Eve's Diary  which many think was a tribute to Sam's wife ( Olivia ) a year after she died. Later editions have the illustrations as shown here.

One of the outstanding features of the Mark Twain Museum is the art work. Here are numerous Norman Rockwell painting on display including 10 or 11 originals which were used to illustrate the 1940 editions of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn . They are roped off so that you have to view them from a distance.

There are a few caves in this area of Missouri and if you read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn stories you know that caves play a major role in these stories. These caves are in limestone and many cover large areas and distances.

This Cave Known As Tom Sawyer Cave Or Mark Twain Cave.

This cave was discovered in the winter of 1819 - 1020 by Jack Simms and his dog while on a hunting trip. His dog chased a panther into a small opening in the hill. It was late in the day so he blocked the opening and came back the next day with his brother and torches. They were awestruck by what they found and saw inside. This cave was written about in 5 of the Mark Twain books. It is Missouri oldest showcase.

Cameron Cave ( Cameron Cave ) was discovered on a cold wintry day in 1925 by Arch Cameron whose family opened the Mark Twain Cave. He saw steam coming from the ground while he was caring for his cattle. He looked closer and saw a sink hole and he started digging into the hot ledge. He found a very large room and after exploration found that the cave was much larger and complex than the labyrinth of the Mark Twain Cave.

Statue Of Tom Sawyer And Huckleberry Finn 

Statue Of Tom Sawyer And Huckleberry Finn 

Hannibal, Missouri is a nice community and its main attraction is Sam Clemens and his creations of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I think I said earlier that these 3 names appear all over the place. Names of roads, stores and businesses, lakes, boats to take a ride on he Mississippi and on and on. There is much construction in the main downtown area to fix the streets and side walks and parking lots which are in need or repair.

My Time In Hannibal Was Near An  End And I Was Hot And Needed To Sit Down And Rest. What Better Place To Do That Than In An Old Fashioned Drug Store With An Old Fashioned Soda Fountain. I Had Some Vanilla Ice Cream Which Sure Hit The Spot. Displayed On The Counter Was Old Time Chewing Gum, Candy And  Trinkets. You Can See Some Old Fashioned Scales And Product Signs. The Place May Have appeared To Be Old Fashioned But There Was Nothing Old Fashioned about The Prices But The Ice Cream Was Worth It And Perked Me Up To Go On A  Few More Hours.

Next to see was Lovers Leap which is the highest point around Hannibal, Missouri.

Plaque Tells The Story Of Lovers Leap

Indian Brave And Indian Princess

Lovers Leap From Which Indian Lovers Leaped In Legendary Story. This Is The Mississippi River.

Hannibal, Missouri  And  Mississippi River As Seen From Lovers Leap . State Of Illinois Is to The Right.

Bridge Over Mississippi River Connecting Hannibal, Missouri And Illinois.

Well my time in Hannibal, Missouri is up and I will head on to my next stop which is the Ulysses S. Grant Historical Site at 500 Bout Hiller Street, Galena, Illinois. This was a most enjoyable stop here in Hannibal. 

I have had a wonderful day. Beautiful weather as I drove from Acorn, ( Cameron ) Mo. to Hannibal, Mo. and toured all the Mark Twain places. Then drove to Galena, IL. where I will see a lot of stuff about President Grant. I am in a Best Western Queen Suite with a big hot tub sitting right next to the bed. They only had two rooms left. Met a retired couple who has a 2011 Hyundai Sonata hybrid light blue just like mine. This is the only hybrid I have seen since I got mine. They love theirs. 

As I always say remember God loves you and so do I.

Grandpa Bill