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Case file s1820 · Literature and art · 1910
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1910
Mark Twain: Mark Twain by AF Bradley (cropped 2)
Mark Twain. A.F. Bradley, New York. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
21 April 1910
Place
Redding, Connecticut · United States
Field
novelist · Literature and writing on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (Connecticut) · Common law
Historical event
The building of Stormfield, Twain's Redding estate, and the death of his daughter Jean in December 1909
Religion
Mark Twain: Other, Protestant and Anglican (recorded as skepticism on Wikidata; American Presbyterians on Wikipedia)
Member of
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Wikidata)
Literature and artBurned papers and destroyed workIndustry and empireNorth AmericaUnited States

Mark Twain fired his secretary Isabel Lyon in 1909 and wrote 429 pages accusing her and her husband, a text kept private until 2015

Isabel Lyon became Twain's secretary in 1902. After his wife Olivia died in 1904 she moved into his house, paid allowances to his daughters Clara and Jean, and helped supervise the building of Stormfield. Twain bought her a nearby house, The Lobster Pot, and gave her power of attorney in 1907. In March 1909 Lyon married Ralph Ashcroft, a business associate of Twain. In April 1909 Twain fired her and made her return The Lobster Pot. He wrote a 429-page manuscript listing complaints against Lyon and Ashcroft, charging that she spent his money on her house and schemed to marry him. He kept it private, to be published if Lyon went public. Biographers disagree. Karen Lystra argues his charges were accurate. Laura Skandera Trombley argues Clara turned him against Lyon, fearing Lyon would expose Clara's affair with a married accompanist. Hill defends Lyon and calls the embezzlement charge unproven. The manuscript was published in 2015 in volume 3 of his autobiography. Lyon and Ashcroft moved to Canada and divorced in 1927. Lyon died on 4 December 1958 in New York.

What the law took from it

A power of attorney given to a live-in employee puts the employer's money and good name in the employee's hands, and a family dispute can rewrite the record.

Sources
  1. lynncullen.comPress
  2. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Mark Twain fired his secretary Isabel Lyon in 1909 and wrote 429 pages accusing her and her husband, a text kept private until 2015,” story s1820, https://www.celebrity.estate/mark-twain-1910, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Literature and artBurned papers and destroyed workIndustry and empireNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States