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O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)
William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry, was an American writer born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Porter lost his mother to tuberculosis at the age of three, so he and his father, Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter, moved in with Porter's paternal grandmother.
Porter was a passionate reader during his youth and was especially fond of One Thousand and One Nights. He spent his youth in North Carolina where he continued his schooling until age fifteen. Porter then worked in his uncle's drugstore and became a licensed pharmacist in 1881 at nineteen years old. It was there where he often created drawings of the local townspeople.
Because of an unrelenting cough, Porter moved to Texas in March of 1882. He initially lived on a sheep ranch and worked as a shepherd, ranch hand, and cook. He learned Spanish and German from the immigrant ranch hands.
Porter's life in Texas was very active and social. He was both a good singer and musician and was involved in singing and drama groups. Porter was a member of the "Hill City Quartet" and played the guitar and mandolin. It was during this time that Porter met and courted his future wife, Athol Estes. Despite her mother's objections, they later eloped and were married on July 1, 1887. The following year they had their first child who, unfortunately, died shortly after birth. In September 1889, Athol gave birth to their daughter, Margaret.
