Monday October 5, 2015
Everyone knows that Samuel Clemens spent his formative boyhood years in Hannibal, Missouri. My mother, our friend Linda, and I toured the home he grew up in, as well as the home of his best fried Tom, who became Huck Finn in his novels. But I bet you didn’t know that my paternal grandmother’s grandfather moved to Hannibal, Missouri from Baltimore to set up a book shop at about the same time that Samuel was there. We learned that Hannibal had about 1000 residents in 1850. Pretty amazing that my great great grandfather and the soon to be famous author lived in the same town. And even more incredible, they had the same last name. My grandmother’s maiden name was Clemens. My mother was quick to point out to the director of Hannibal’s museum that Clemens was a common French name. But I like to think that, just maybe, we might be related to Mark Twain if you go back far enough!
After spending the day in Hannibal, Linda drove us back to Quincy in time for our “open boat” party. We had vacuumed and cleaned Heron the day before, and she was looking beautiful when a few of Jim’s former co-workers and friends stopped by.