Sexton family. Louisa Sexton (b. 1812? in Kentucky) and her daughter, Margaret (b. 1836? in Missouri), are both described in “Villagers” (99, 99). They boarded with the Clemens family in the mid-1840s, and young Samuel and Henry Clemens were rivals for Margaret’s attention. In January 1850 Margaret evidently was taking music lessons from Pamela, for Jane Clemens wrote of her as one of the “music scollars” who played “dewets” at the house (Jane Lampton Clemens to Orion Clemens, 30 Jan 50, NPV, in MTBus, 16). By the summer of 1850 Mrs. Sexton and Margaret had moved to St. Louis. Writing his family from Virginia City on 16 February 1863, Clemens enclosed his photograph for Margaret, commenting: “Had your letter arrived a little sooner, I could have sent it to her myself, as a Valentine” (L1, 245; St. Louis Census 1850, 418:361).
