A First Family of Tasajara was published in 1892. By that time, Harte was living in London, sponsored by the wealthy Mrs. Van de Velde. According to Harte's family, he read Shakespeare at six, Dickens at seven, and Montaigne at age eight, though he attended school only until age 13. A First Family of Tasajara is the story of 'Lige Curtis, thought to be a "ne'er do well" around his Contra Costa County (northern California) town of Sidon -- a forsaken place where the post comes 'round only once a week. Bret Harte is the editor, writer and friend of whom Mark Twain wrote, "He trimmed and schooled me patiently until he changed me from an awkward utterer of coarse grotesqueness to a writer of paragraphs and chapters." Harte hired Twain to write a story a week for the Californian in 1865, a time when Twain was an unknown, relatively untried writer. The author of "The Luck of Roaring Camp," and "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" ended up creating a part of literary history that's still treasured today; perhaps it's the most enduring legacy of "California's Gold."

Author Biography

Francis Bret Harte (1836 - 1902) was an American short story writer and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote poetry, fiction, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials and magazine sketches in addition to fiction. As he moved from California to the eastern U.S. to Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories but his Gold Rush tales have been most often reprinted, adapted and admired.