The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board

Mark Twain and the Lamptons
In Response To: Re: Joshua Lampton ()

I'll throw a fun little curve ball into the mix while we're at it. While I was researching the Lamptons, who came to northeast Missouri by way of Clark County, Kentucky, Mark Twain's name kept popping up into my search engine. Mark Twain AKA Samuel L. Clemons. So I starting digging and lo and behold, his mother, Jane Lampton Clemons, is first cousin to Buck Lampton the elder. Joshua Lampton was Buck's dad, Joshua's brother Benjamin was Jane's father. Another brother, James Lampton was father of another William Henry Lampton, who was prominent in his own right, and that William's son, William J. Lampton was famous on a national scale. Turns out Mark Twain's wit came from the Lampton side of his family.

A sister of Jane, Sam/Mark's mother, once told Twain biographers that Samuel Clemons was named after an uncle, Samuel Lampton, and that when Twain was born his name originally was Samuel Lampton Clemons (there are also a slew of Samuel Lamptons). And somewhere along the line, young Sam changed the Lampton to Langhorne.

Messages In This Thread

The Two Buck Lamptons
William Lampton, died Gratiot Prison 1863
Re: William L Lampton
Re: William L Lampton
Skirmish at Auxvasse creek
Re: Skirmish at Auxvasse creek
Re: William HH Lampton Jr.
Re: William HH Lampton Sr.
Buck Sr / Buck Jr
Re: Buck Sr / Buck Jr
Re: Buck Sr / Buck Jr
Re: Joshua Lampton
Re: Joshua Lampton
Re: Joshua Lampton
Mark Twain and the Lamptons