Mark Twain's Autobiography -- Three Volumes

First volume: copyright, 2010, one hundred years following Twain's death, as he directed
Third volume: copyright, 2015

The eulogy, as it seems to be, of Jean, is the last entry of his autobiography, pages 310 - 319 of the third volume. If one has no time to read anything of his autobiography, one needs to make time to read these 20 pages. Jean, perhaps his favorite, died on Christmas Eve morning (or perhaps late in the evening before, 1909). Jean's body was taken from the house Christmas Day evening.

Four children:

• Langdon, son, died at 19 months of age, diphtheria
• Susy, 1872 - 1896; at time of Jean's death, mentions that he and his wife had laid to rest Susy thirteen years earlier, age 24 years; full name, Olivia Susan Clemens (her mother was Olivia); nicknamed Livy but family called her Susy; of meningitis;
• Clara, 1874 - 1962; overseas, in Berlin, when Jean died
• Jean, 1880 - 1909; living at home with her dad when she died; 29 years old; probably drowned following grand mal seizure; living at home because her dad felt she needed to be watched (due to her frequent grand mal seizures)

Their mother, Olivia, had died 5 1/2 years before Jean died, around1904, that would make it, preceded by the death of three of her four children. Olivia died overseas, Florence, Italy.

Twain was 74 years old at the time of Jean's death.

Family burial plots: Elmira, NY. I will have to confirm this, but apparently Olivia's ancestral home. It was at Olivia's ancestral home, if I have this correct, where Twain and Olivia were married 40 years earlier, according to Twain, which would  make it 1869 -- just a few years after the US Civil War.

Susy died in the Twain house in Hartford; her mother Olivia would never enter it again. Therefore, Twain built a new family house in Redding, CT, two years before Jean's death. Katy was the #1 housekeeper. Susy would ride her horse every morning to collect the mail. I don't know but it sounds like the "station" (post office) would have been about a mile distant. Twain's biographer either lived there or spent much time at the Redding house (Paine, the biographer). 

From marktwainhouse.org:

Most Mark Twain scholars mark Susy’s death in August 1896 as the point at which the lives of the families changed‚ but Jean was diagnosed with epilepsy five months before Susy’s death‚ and this news was also a huge blow. Jean was 15‚ and she was not able to experience the idyllic teenage years her sisters had enjoyed. While in Europe the family sought out doctors to treat Jean in England‚ Sweden‚ Germany‚ and Switzerland‚ but constant travel also took its toll.

Homes in later years:

• Twain and wife, long-time residents of Hartford, CT
• home in Redding, CT, where Jean died 

Due to financial setbacks, went to Europe for prolonged period when the two older daughters were young adults; Jean will still only 11; never had the idyllic teen years that her older sisters had.

According to Twain's autobiography, p. 312: "Jean, from her babyhood, was a worshipper of Clara.

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A Mark Twain Manuscript In The Last Year Of Jean's Life

In the last year, prior to Jean's death at the end of the year, Mark Twain wrote a long manuscript, which he left untitled, but is referred to as the Ashcroft-Lyon manuscript. It was written over several months, from May to September, 1909.

Ralph W Ashcroft: his business manager since 1907
Isabel V. Lyon, his secretary, housekeeper, and then companion, since 1902

Ashcroft and Lyon: married in March, 1909
Clara suspected them as frauds, taking advantage of Mark Twain
Mark Twain "fired" them and the Ashcroft-Lyon manuscript explains his actions

"Lobster Pot" -- a plot of farmland / homestead that Mark Twain had given to his housekeeper, Isabel V Lyon; in redding CT, apparently  adjoining Mark Twain's property; "Lobster Pot" was a house and 16 acres.

The pages in Volume 3 that cover the Ashcroft-Lyon manuscript: 321 - 440.

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Page Separator

I think the three volume autobiography would have been better served with better "divisions." For example, the editor should have place a very obvious section separator between the Ashcroft-Lyon manuscript and the "Explanatory Notes" which begin on page 441.

The "Explanatory Notes" are from page 441 to 636, inclusive.

Then begin the "Appendixes," starting on page 637.

A brief chronology:

• b. 1835
• m. 1870, February 2; first home in Buffalo, NY
• first child, son Langdon, born prematurely November 7, 1870; dies June 2, 1872
• second child, daughter Olivia Susan (Susy) Clemens born March 19, 1872; she is only a few months old when her brother dies
• third child, Clara Langdon Clemens born June 8, 1874; never knew she had a brother until told
• 1874: build a house in Hartford, CT - this is Olivia's house until Susy dies
• 1880: fourth child, daughter Jean born July 26; must have been born just after they return from full year in Europe
• 1891 - 1894: financial difficulties: travels and lives in Europe all this time
• 1895: around-the-world lecture tour
• 1896: Susy dies of meningitis, in Hartford, CT; Jean is diagnosed with epilepsy; resides in London; anchors: London and Hartford, CT
• 1897: lives in Weggis (Switzeland) and Vienna
• 1898: pays creditors in full; lives in Vienna and nearby Kaltenleutgegen
• 1899: moves to London
• 1901: returns to America in late 1900; lives in NYC, then Riverdale, the Bronx
• 1903: moves family to Florence
• 1905: spends summer in Dublin, New Hampshire, with his daughter, Jean
• 1908: moves into the Redding house; (Innocence at Home, then Stormfield)
• 1909: dismisses Ashcroft and Lyon; Jean joins father at Stormfield; Clara marries October 6, 1909; 
• 1910: severe angina in Bermuda; with Paine, his official biographer, leaves for NYC; dies at Stormfield, April 21, 1910 age, 75 years

Casanova lived 75 years: from 1725 - 1800.
Twain lived 75 years: from 1835 - 1910. Just just missed the Jazz Age, WWI.