O. Henry

             William Sydney Porter was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in September of 1862. Algernon Sydney and Mary Jane Porter. Williams mother died when he was at the young age of three. After the death of his mother, his father made the decision to move himself along with his two young sons into the home of their grandmother and aunt Lina. William was later tutored throughout his young life by his aunt Lina. At the age of 17 William began working in his uncles drug store. After a year of working as a pharmacist he moved to Texas and stayed on the ranch of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hall. While living in Texas he began writing humorous comic strips. After moving to Austin he met and married Athol Estes. They later had a son who passed away after birth. Soon after they gave birth to a daughter named Margaret. Later that year Athol became seriously ill (Bloom, Harold 11).
             William lost his recent job and later got a job at the First National Bank of Austin. While working at the bank he started publication of The Rolling Stone, a humor weekly. A year later it went out of print. That same year he was fired and accused of embezzlement by the bank. In February of 1896 he was arrested in Houston. Soon he fled to New Orleans; from there he went to Honduras. His wife was still living in Texas where she was dying of a grave illness. Soon he returned to be with her and look after his young daughter. In 1898 William was found guilty of embezzlement. He was sentenced to a five year term at the federal penitentiary in Ohio. With all the spare time in prison he began writing and publishing stories. After only serving three years of his sentence he was released on good behavior. After his release he moved to the New York area and started writing for popular magazines (Bloom, Harold11). At the start of his success he began using his pen name O. Henry, said to be derived from his frequent calling of "Oh , "Henry"" the family cat.