Permelia Ann Moffett

Pamela was born in Jamestown, Tennessee on 9/13/1827 or 9/19/1827. (There is conflicting data on her birth date.) After the Clemens family’s move to Hannibal she attended Elizabeth Horr’s school and in November 1840 was commended by her teacher for her “amiable deportment and faithful application to her various studies.” Pamela played piano and guitar, and in the 1840s helped to support the family by giving music lessons. In 1851 she married William Anderson Moffett and moved to St. Louis. They had two children, Annie and Samuel. William Moffett died in 1865; from 1870 Pamela lived in Fredonia, New York, with her mother. She was probably the model for Tom’s cousin Mary in Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and other works.