I am afraid I may have had part in this departure from the point of the  
forum, and for that my humble apologies.
 
In begging pardon of all, I offer a bit of a biosketch on one of Sam  
Clemens' friends after arrival in Carson City, John Kinney.
 
I had wondered what was behind John Kinney of Cincinnati  accompanying 
George Turner of Portsmouth, Ohio, 200 miles upriver from  Cincinnati, on the 
stagecoach trip from St. Joe to Carson City. Turner was  Lincoln's appointee 
as Chief Justice of Nevada Territory.
 
John and Sam apparently became friends quickly. Perhaps because Sam and his 
 brother Orion knew George Turner's sister, the socialite wife of a  
prominent attorney in Keokuk, Iowa. It was a small world in those days.
 
It turns out the fathers of George Turner and John Kinney were both  
significant men and doubtless friends in Portsmouth, and that Johnny was born  
there. Eli Kinney was a banker, with several banks along the Ohio River, the  
largest being located in Cincinnati. It was three blocks from the printshop  
where Sam Clemens worked one winter, though I doubt Sam had need of a bank 
at  the time. Eli Kinney's home, the house where John was born, is now the  
county museum in Portsmouth. So although there was a pretty good age spread  
between George and John, there was family friendship. In Nevada, John went 
down  to the new mining camp of Aurora and purchased mining claims for  
George. Then after a few months rusticating in the new territory, John  returned 
home--by ship.  John Kinney, born in 1839, died in 1879,  apparently of 
Yellow Fever in Memphis, during the second year of a malaria  outbreak.
 
Bob Stewart
Another retired guy.
 
 
In a message dated 7/31/2012 12:04:50 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

I would  add a hearty amen to Professor Cosgrove's complaint about =
commercial  self-promotion becoming far too common on the Twain list =
serve.   Alas, this is not the only such forum being so infected.  But =
what  can one expect?  Tawdry times beget tawdry behavior.  Or perhaps  =
Professor Cosgrove and myself are sadly infected with "emerititus,"  =
being now old codgers sniffing disdainfully at the "brave" new world we  =
find ourselves in.  Or would that be "dinosauritis"?  Whatever,  I do =
miss the sprightly exchanges which have so enlivened the  forum.  Perhaps =
the list's monitors need to pay closer heed to what  is being posted.

dennis eddings
One of those emeritus  guys=