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Although William Sidney Porter lived his life far from the Western North Carolina mountains, the man who penned short stories under the name O. Henry and became the favorite of a generation at the turn of the Twentieth Century owes the location of his final resting place to his second wife, Sara Coleman Porter, a Weaverville native. Through his burial at Asheville�s beautiful and historic Riverside Cemetery, O. Henry has become a thread in the rich lore that is part of the city�s heritage and, today, creates continued interest in this master storyteller�s life and times. William Sidney Porter was born near Greensboro in Guilford County, NC, on September 11, 1862. His mother died when he was three, and his father, a doctor, left much of his early education and care in the able hands of Will�s aunt, Lina Porter. Will, along with several neighborhood children, attended Aunt Lina�s private school; Will did not attend public school until age 12. By the age of 20, Will was looking for more adventure than Guilford County could provide � and his family was looking for a new climate to help him recover from a bout with tuberculosis � so, in 1882 Will moved to the dry, broad expanses of west Texas, never to return to North Carolina, except for a couple of short visits. Will loved his life in Texas, and many of the cowboys and �n�er-do-wells� that he met during those years provided him with a seemingly endless supply of characters for many of his future short stories. He lived on a sheep ranch in LaSalle County, Texas, that was owned by family friends, but moved to Austin by 1884. He found employment in the General Land Office, married Athol Estes, and, by 1889, was the father of a little girl, Margaret. In 1891, Porter landed a job as a teller at the First National Bank in Austin. He briefly published a humorous newspaper, The Rolling Stone, but was never successful in this venture.
It was during his years in prison that Porter began to hone his writing and transform himself into the master of the short story that the world came to know as O. Henry. Partly to hide is true identity � and therefore his prison record � and partly to offer himself a fresh start, Porter emerged from prison with a passion for writing and a new name. O. Henry was released from prison in 1901, and went to Pittsburgh to be reunited with his daughter. He married Sara Coleman, an Asheville native, in 1902. In 1903, O. Henry moved to New York City, and began writing for the New York Sunday World on a weekly basis. A prolific writer, some of his best work flowed from his pen during these last years and resulted in the publishing of a number of collections of his short stories, including Cabbages and Kings in 1904, The Four Million (a collection of 25 short stories in which one of his most popular stories, �The Gift of the Magi,� was first published) in 1906, Heart of the West in 1907, and The Gentle Grafter in 1908. O. Henry became the most popular and widely read author of his time. O. Henry�s favorite characters were humble, downtrodden, sympathetic sorts, such as shop girls, cowboys, or tramps. His favorite settings were the cold, austere, and unwelcoming niches of New York City, places that were well known to his characters. He wrote in plain language, but with a descriptive flair that captured his reader�s attention from the first paragraph. But O. Henry�s genius � and his popularity � was owed to the surprising twists and turns that his stories would take before arriving at their unexpected conclusions. Sadly, O. Henry�s life was cut short at the age of 48. He died in 1910, the victim of complications from a combination of ills, including alcoholism, influenza, and diabetes. His wife, Sara, brought him back to her hometown for burial. His gravesite is located in Riverside Cemetery, 53 Birch Street, in the Montford Historic District near downtown Asheville. Sara and his daughter, Margaret, are buried by his side. O. Henry�s talent and memory are further honored by the City of Asheville � O. Henry Avenue, a prominent road in downtown Asheville and the location of Asheville�s daily newspaper, The Asheville Citizen-Times, is named in his honor. It seems a fitting tribute to a man whose finely crafted writing skills were originally seen by millions through the newspapers of his day. Riverside Cemetery is managed by Asheville�s Department of Parks and Recreation. A number of nationally and locally famous people are buried in the cemetery, including another literary giant and favorite son, Thomas Wolfe. For more information on Riverside Cemetery, please call 828-350-2066, or visit their web site, www.ci.asheville.nc.us/parks/riverside.asp. (Images provided by Asheville Parks & Recreation and Lone Star Junction)
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But Will Porter was fast approaching some hard times that would forever alter his path. In 1894, he was charged with embezzling funds from the bank. He fled the country to Honduras in an attempt to escape the charges, but returned to Austin when his wife was terminally ill with tuberculosis; she died in 1897. While Porter steadfastly refused that he had done nothing more than keep sloppy records, he was tried and found guilty of embezzlement, and sent to the federal penitentiary in Ohio. His daughter was sent to live with her mother�s parents in Pittsburgh, PA. 