Born to a poor family in Albany, New York, Bret Harte moved to California in 1854, pursuing a variety of occupations as tutor, apothecary’s assistant, expressman, and newspaperman before he began to publish his poems and stories in 1857. In 1862 he married Anna Griswold, with whom he had two sons. From 1864 he was a major contributor to the Californian and sometimes its editor, first soliciting SLC’s work for it in 1864. He was the first editor of the Overland Monthly, where he published his most popular stories. Harte edited the manuscript of SLC’s The Innocents Abroad (1869). He also collaborated with SLC on the unsuccessful play Ah Sin (1876–77), but as a result of disagreements during its writing and production, the two became permanently estranged. Harte subsequently held consular posts in Germany and Scotland; he spent his last years in London.