Only a few documents chronicle William Shakespeare's life, and thus, scholars have been forced to attempt a reconstruction of the playwright's years based on whatever official records have survived. Shakespeare's father moved to Stratford-upon-Avon from nearby Snitterfield sometime before 1557, when he married Mary Arden, the daughter of a prosperous farmer. John Shakespeare was a leather worker and merchant, who held several posts in local government after he settled in Stratford. After the couple married, they had eight children. William Shakespeare was the third child and the first son born to the couple. His baptism was recorded April 26, 1564, and although the exact date of his birth is not known, it is now celebrated on April 23, which is also the day on which he died in 1616.
