Editing Mark Twain (section)

===Marriage and children===
[[File:Mark Twain 1871-02-07.jpg|thumb|right|(From l. to r.) American Civil War correspondent and author [[George Alfred Townsend]], Mark Twain and David Gray, editor of the rival ''[[Buffalo Courier-Express|Buffalo Courier]]''<ref name="MTP-Gray"/>]]
[[File:Mark Twain House and Museum 2007.jpg|thumb|right|[[Twain House]] in Hartford, Connecticut]]

Twain and [[Olivia Langdon]] corresponded throughout 1868. She rejected his first marriage proposal, but Twain continued to court her and managed to overcome her father's initial reluctance.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Concerning Mark Twain|journal=The Week: A Canadian Journal of Politics, Literature, Science and Arts|date=February 14, 1884|volume=1|issue=11|page=171|url=https://archive.org/stream/weekcanadianjour01toro#page/n86/mode/1up|access-date=April 26, 2013}}</ref> They were married in [[Elmira, New York]], in February 1870.<ref name="PBS"/> She came from a "wealthy but liberal family"; through her, Twain met [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]], "socialists, principled atheists and activists for [[women's rights]] and [[social equality]]", including [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], [[Frederick Douglass]], and [[utopian socialism|utopian socialist]] writer [[William Dean Howells]],<ref name="helen-scott">{{Cite journal |last=Scott |first=Helen |title=The Mark Twain They Didn't Teach Us About in School |journal=International Socialist Review |volume=10 |date=Winter 2000 |pages=61–65 |url=http://www.marxists.de/culture/twain/noteach.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616051030/http://www.marxists.de/culture/twain/noteach.htm|archive-date=June 16, 2019}}</ref> who became a long-time friend. The Clemenses lived in [[Buffalo, New York]], from 1869 to 1871. Twain owned a stake in the ''[[Buffalo Courier-Express|Buffalo Express]]'' newspaper and worked as an editor and writer.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dlugosz |first1=Steve |title=Mark Twain's experience in Buffalo described as brief but memorable |url=http://ampoleagle.com/mark-twains-experience-in-buffalo-described-as-brief-but-memorable-p10010-1.htm |access-date=December 18, 2020 |work=The Am-Pol Eagle |date=May 27, 2020 |archive-date=May 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527122731/http://ampoleagle.com/mark-twains-experience-in-buffalo-described-as-brief-but-memorable-p10010-1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="MTP-Gray">{{cite web |title=David Gray biography |url=https://www.marktwainproject.org/biographies/bio_gray_david.html |website=Mark Twain Project |access-date=December 18, 2020 |archive-date=February 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201194301/https://www.marktwainproject.org/biographies/bio_gray_david.html |url-status=live }}</ref> While they were living in Buffalo, their son Langdon died of [[diphtheria]] in 1872 at the age of 19&nbsp;months. They had three daughters: [[Susy Clemens|Susy]] (1872–1896), [[Clara Clemens|Clara]] (1874–1962),<ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Jacques Samossoud Dies; Mark Twain's Last Living Child; Released 'Letters From Earth' |quote=San Diego, Nov. 20 (UPI) Mrs. Clara Langhorne Clemens Samossoud, the last living child of Mark Twain, died last night in Sharp Memorial Hospital. She was 88 years old. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 21, 1962}}</ref> and [[Jean Clemens|Jean]] (1880–1909). The Clemenses formed a friendship with David Gray, who worked as an editor of the rival ''[[Buffalo Courier-Express|Buffalo Courier]]'', and his wife Martha. Twain later wrote that the Grays were {{"'}}all the solace' he and Livy had during their 'sorrowful and pathetic brief sojourn in Buffalo{{'"}}, and that Gray's "delicate gift for poetry" was wasted working for a newspaper.<ref name="MTP-Gray"/>

Starting in 1873, Twain moved his family to [[Hartford, Connecticut]], where he arranged the building of [[Mark Twain House|a home]] next door to Stowe. In the 1870s and 1880s, the family summered at [[Quarry Farm]] in Elmira, the home of Olivia's sister, Susan Crane.<ref name=Elmira>{{cite web |url=http://www.elmira.edu/academics/programs/Center_Twain/Quarry_Farm.html |title=Twain's Home in Elmira |publisher=[[Elmira College]] Center for Mark Twain Studies |access-date=May 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729000450/http://www.elmira.edu/academics/programs/Center_Twain/Quarry_Farm.html |archive-date=July 29, 2014 }}</ref><ref name=Cresset>{{cite web |url=http://www.valpo.edu/cresset/2010/Advent/Bush_A10.html |title=A Week at Quarry Farm |author=Hal Bush |publisher=The Cresset, A review of literature, the arts, and public affairs, [[Valparaiso University]] |date=Christmas 2010 |access-date=May 1, 2011}}</ref> In 1874,<ref name=Elmira/> Susan had a study built, an octagonal gazebo set apart from the main house, as a surprise to Twain so that he would have a quiet place in which to write and enjoy his cigars.<ref>{{Cite web |title=An Interview with Mark Twain |url=https://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2019/04/an-interview-with-mark-twain.html |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Library of America |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604110913/https://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2019/04/an-interview-with-mark-twain.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Lowe |first=Hilary Iris |title=Mark Twain Sites |date=2020 |work=Mark Twain in Context |pages=354–362 |editor-last=Bird |editor-first=John |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/mark-twain-in-context/mark-twain-sites/CF6BA4928D0CBAAB339BA3D12D0C4826 |access-date=2024-06-04 |series=Literature in Context |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-47260-9}}</ref>

Twain wrote many of his classic novels during his 17 years in Hartford (1874–1891) and over 20 summers at Quarry Farm. They include ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876), ''[[The Prince and the Pauper]]'' (1881), ''Life on the Mississippi'' (1883), ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), and ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' (1889).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mitgang |first=Herbert |date=1985-04-28 |title=1985: A very good year to celebrate Mark Twain |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/28/books/1985-a-very-good-year-to-celebrate-mark-twain.html |access-date=2024-06-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604111620/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/28/books/1985-a-very-good-year-to-celebrate-mark-twain.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Murray |first=Jeff |date=2024-05-15 |title=Quarry Farm, Mark Twain's Elmira summer home, nets major grant. How money will be used. |url=https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/2024/05/15/mark-twains-elmira-summer-home-gets-grant-for-fire-suppression-system/73698402007/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Star-Gazette |language=en-US |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604111614/https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/local/2024/05/15/mark-twains-elmira-summer-home-gets-grant-for-fire-suppression-system/73698402007/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The couple's marriage lasted 34 years until Olivia's death in 1904.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1904-06-24 |title=Headline announces the death of Olivia Langdon, wife of Mark Twain |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-mitchell-capital-headline-announces/26227663/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |work=The Mitchell Capital |pages=12 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604103406/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-mitchell-capital-headline-announces/26227663/ |url-status=live }}</ref> All of the Clemens family are buried in Elmira's [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Elmira, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jamieson |first=Bob |date=2015-09-15 |title=Mark Twain gets his plaque back in Elmira cemetery |url=https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/2015/09/14/mark-twain-plaque-woodlawn-elmira-restored/72261012/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=Star-Gazette |language=en-US |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604103409/https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/2015/09/14/mark-twain-plaque-woodlawn-elmira-restored/72261012/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Selby |first=P.O. |date=1977 |title=The Langdon-Clemens Grave Plot |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41641056 |journal=Mark Twain Journal |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=19–20 |jstor=41641056 |issn=0025-3499 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-date=June 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604103407/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41641056 |url-status=live }}</ref>