Relationship of Curtis Lynn Older
to
O. Henry [William Sidney Porter]
(11 Sep 1862 - 05 Jun 1910)
Curtis Lynn Older is a
4th cousin, 2 times removed, of O. Henry
[William Sidney Porter]
Relationship of O'Henry to Joseph Worth Senior:
1) Joseph Worth Senior (1696 - 14 July 1790)
2) Daniel Worth Senior, son (10th 12 mo. 1739 - July 10, 1830)
3) David Worth, grandson (May 19, 1776 - 1844)
4) Ruth Coffin Worth, great-granddaughter (June 3, 1804 - 1879)
5) Algernon Sydney Porter 2-great-grandson (1825 - 1888)
6) William Sidney Porter [O. Henry] 3-great grandson {Sept. 11, 1862 - June 5, 1910)
Relationship of Curtis Lynn Older to Joseph Worth Senior:
1) Joseph Worth Senior (1696 - 14 July 1790)
2) Joseph Worth Junior, son (29th 9 mo. 1729 - before May 1816)
3) Charles Worth, grandson (June 17, 1761 - after 1850)
4) John Worth, great-grandson (circa 1817 - after 1886)
5) Chesterfield Worth, 2-great grandson (1850 - 1892)
6) Ethel Leona Worth, 3-great granddaughter (Jan 8, 1893 - Dec 26, 1976)
7) Truxton James Older, 4-great grandson (Sept 28, 1911 - April 6, 2009)
8) Curtis Lynn Older, 5-great grandson) (4th cousin, 2 times removed of O. Henry)
9) Rachael Lynn Older, 6-great granddaughter) (4th cousin, 3 times removed of O. Henry)
Brief Biography of O. Henry
Copyright of Essaylet.com
O. Henry (1862-1910) was a prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O. Henry's stories.
William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a physician. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and aunt. William was an avid reader, but at the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store and on a Texas ranch. He moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of bank clerk. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 1882, he married.
In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The Rolling Stone. When the weekly failed, he joined the Houston Post as a reporter and columnist. In 1897 he was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt. In 1898 he entered a penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio.
While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" (1899), appeared in McClure's Magazine. After doing three years of the five years sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry.
O. Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, also publishing in other magazines. Henry's first collection, Cabbages And Kings appeared in 1904. The second, The Four Million, was published two years later and included his well-known stories "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Furnished Room". The Trimmed Lamp (1907) included "The Last Leaf". Henry's best known work is perhaps the much anthologized "The Ransom of Red Chief", included in the collection Whirligigs (1910). The Heart Of The West (1907) presented tales of the Texas range. O. Henry published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime.
O. Henry's last years were shadowed by alcoholism, ill health, and financial problems. He married Sara Lindsay Coleman in 1907, but the marriage was not happy, and they separated a year later. O. Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver on June 5, 1910, in New York. Three more collections, Sixes And Sevens (1911), Rolling Stones (1912) and Waifs And Strays (1917), appeared posthumously.
Also see:
O. Henry Biography by C. Alphonso Smith, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1916
