Question: The John Downing Jr. House is a historic house in downtown Middleport, a village located on the banks of the Ohio River in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, notably, his work with the young Samuel Clemens led to a literary appearance years later: writing under the name of "Mark Twain", Clemens portrayed him in which book, released in 1883, is a memoir by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans many years after the War?

Context articles: Mark Twain in Nevada
Horace Ezra Bixby
Mark Twain Boyhood Home &amp; Museum
Charles L. Webster and Company
Mark Twain: Words &amp; Music
Jeremiah Wood House
Isaiah Sellers
Life on the Mississippi
Douglas Parker
John Downing Jr. House

The use of the pen name of Mark Twain first occurred in Samuel Clemens's writing while in the Nevada Territory which he had journeyed to with his brother.
 Clemens/Twain lived in Nevada from 1861-1864, and visited the area twice after leaving.
 Historians such as Peter Messent see Clemens's time in Nevada as "the third major formative period of Mark Twain's career" (after his time in Hannibal and upon the Mississippi), due to his encounters with "writers and humorists who would both shape and put the finishing touches on his literary art."
 The "Routledge Encyclopedia of Mark Twain" states that despite the few "disagreeable experiences" he had there, Twain "thrived in Nevada."
 Among those things he learnt was "how far he could push a joke" a lesson learnt from some "disagreeable experiences" he brought upon himself.
Horace Ezra Bixby (May 8, 1826 - August 1, 1912) was a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio river system from the late 1840s until his death in 1912.
 Bixby is notable in his own right for his high standing in his profession, for his technical contributions to it, and for his service in the American Civil War.
 However, he is best known for having had as his "cub pilot" (that is, apprentice or trainee) the young man known to him as Sam Clemens, later to become famous under his pen name as American author Mark Twain.
 Twain's descriptions of Bixby's character and pedagogic style form a good part of his memoir "Life on the Mississippi", and it was through this medium that Bixby—much to his annoyance—became well-known beyond the circles of his family, friends and profession.
The Mark Twain Boyhood Home, now known as the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, is located on 206-208 Hill Street, Hannibal, Missouri, on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the United States.
 It was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens from 1844 to 1853.
 Clemens, better known as author Mark Twain, found the inspiration for many of his stories, including the white picket fence, while living here.
 It has been open to the public as a museum since 1912, and was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 29, 1962.
 It is located in the Mark Twain Historic District.
In 1884, author and journalist Samuel Clemens, popularly known as Mark Twain, founded the subscription publishing firm of Charles L. Webster and Company.
 The firm was named after Clemens' niece’s husband Charles L. Webster whom Clemens appointed the firm's business director.
 The formation of the company came out of Clemens' dissatisfaction with his previous publishers including Charles H. Webb, Elisha Bliss, and James R. Osgood.
 Clemens wanted to earn a dual income as both author and publisher of books.
 The first two American publications of the firm, "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1885) and the "Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant" (1885) were highly successful.
 The Ulysses S. Grant memoir publication in particular financially helped Grant and his family at a time when Grant was sick having been diagnosed with throat cancer.
 Grant was former President of the United States and top commanding general during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
 After Grant died, Clemens gave Grant's widowed wife, Julia, a substantial record royalty check of $200,000 dollars.
 According to Webster, prior to his death, Grant dictated the last part of the second volume to a stenographer working for the firm, due to writing fatigue, starting with Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
 Webster, who accompanied the stenographer, respected Grant's reputation and honored Grant's request to keep secret from reporters that Grant dictated part of the book.
Mark Twain: Words & Music is a double-CD produced by Grammy Award-winner Carl Jackson, a Bluegrass and Country music artist, as a benefit for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, a non-profit foundation in Hannibal, Missouri.
 The project tells the life story of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) in spoken word and song and features many well-known artists.
 "Run Mississippi" by Rhonda Vincent reached #2 on the Bluegrass Today charts the same week that "Comet Ride" by Ricky Skaggs reached #7.
 The album was released on September 21, 2011 and is the most downloaded Americana album of all time on AirPlay Direct, an online music source for radio stations, with more than 7,000 downloads its first year.
The Jeremiah Wood House is a historic residence located in Sabula, Iowa, United States.
 The house is associated with the settlement of Sabula, and the occupation of steamboat pilot.
 Dr. Enoch A. Wood and his father James settled here in 1836 and platted the town the same year.
 It was named Sabula ten years later.
 Enoch's brother Jeremiah joined them in 1837, and worked in the family retail store.
 He became a steamboat pilot around 1852, and married his wife in 1860.
 He built the major part of this house six years later.
 The 2½-story stone house was built on the banks of the Mississippi River.
 It features modillions along the rooflines, ocular windows on the gable ends, and a two story porch on the main facade.
 The back wing may be as much as 30 years older.
 The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Isaiah Sellers (ca. 1802–1864) was the riverboat captain from whom Samuel L. Clemens claimed to have appropriated the pen-name Mark Twain.
 The story of how Clemens started to use the name is told in chapter 50 of "Life on the Mississippi" and is summarized in the main article on Mark Twain.
 He allegedly wrote articles for the "New Orleans Daily Picayune".
 Since there are a few problems with the chronology of Sellers' death and Clemens' first use of the name, the story is not accepted uncritically by Twain scholars.
 Captain Isaiah Sellers is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.
Life on the Mississippi (1883) is a memoir by Mark Twain of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans many years after the War.
Douglas M. Parker (born May 25, 1957) is a playwright best known for biographical and reality-based plays.
 His works include "BESSIE: The Life and Music of Bessie Smith" (2005), a play with music about the rise and fall of the great American blues singer; "Life on the Mississippi" (2006), a play about the young Samuel Clemens leaving home to learn about steamboat piloting, adapted from Mark Twain's autobiographical book of the same title; "Declarations" (2007), a one-act play drawn from the letters of John and Abigail Adams from their earliest courtship through the summer of 1776; "Life on the Mississippi", a musical, based on his play (2008); "Thicker Than Water" (2009), a drama based on the Andrea Yates murders; and "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed" (2011), based on Twain's comic memoir about his brief period as a lieutenant in a Confederate volunteer regiment.
 All of Parker's works have appeared at various theaters across the country.
The John Downing Jr.
 House is a historic house in downtown Middleport, a village located on the banks of the Ohio River in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio.
 Built in 1859, it was the home of prominent Middleport resident John B. Downing.
 Known to his intimates as "Major" Downing, he worked for much of his life as a pilot for riverboats on the Mississippi River.
 Notably, his work with the young Samuel Clemens led to a literary appearance years later: writing under the name of "Mark Twain", Clemens portrayed him in the book "Life on the Mississippi".
 One of his two sons, John B. Jr., was the house's namesake