Mark Twain, the famous American author, experienced profound personal tragedies with the loss of his children. He and his wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens, had four children: Langdon, Susy, Clara, and Jean.
1. **Langdon Clemens**: Their first child, Langdon, was born prematurely in 1870. He was a sickly child and died of diphtheria at just 19 months old in 1872.
2. **Susy Clemens**: Susy, born in 1872, was the eldest daughter and a favorite of Mark Twain. She died at the age of 24 in 1896 from spinal meningitis. Her death deeply affected Twain, and he expressed his grief in his writings.
3. **Jean Clemens**: Jean, born in 1880, suffered from epilepsy. She died at the age of 29 in 1909, likely due to a seizure while taking a bath. Her death occurred just a few months before Mark Twain’s own death.
4. **Clara Clemens**: Clara was the only one of Twain’s children to outlive him. She was born in 1874 and lived until 1962. Clara had a career as a singer and later managed her father’s estate.
Mark Twain’s life was marked by both great literary success and personal sorrow, particularly the loss of his children, which influenced his later works.