William Sydney Porter, 1862-1910, better known by his pen name O Henry, gained fame as a gifted short story writer. O Henry's parents, Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter, his grandparents, Sidney and Ruth Worth Porter, and three uncles, Oscar, Henry, and Charles have gravestones in the cemetery. O Henry's father, affectionately called Dr. Al, was a doctor, pharmacist, and an inventor. O Henry's mother, Mary, a talented writer, met an early death from tuberculosis. His grandfather, Sidney, was traveling through North Carolina as a clock salesperson when he met his bride, Ruth, a daughter of Dr. David and Eunice Worth. Ruth practiced medicine in addition to serving the community as a midwife. O Henry lost his mother, Mary, when he was only three, but he felt her influence the rest of his life. He feared tuberculosis and credited his mother, Mary and her father, William Swaim, a writer and editor of the Greensboro Patriot Newspaper, as the source of his writing Talent.
Comments 0 comments