The County of Mark (German: Grafschaft Mark, French: Comté de La Marck colloquially known as Die Mark) was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. It lay on both sides of the Ruhr River along the Volme and Lenne Rivers.

The Counts of the Mark were among the most powerful and influential Westphalian lords in the Holy Roman Empire. The name Mark is recalled in the present-day Märkischer Kreis district in lands south of the Ruhr River in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The northern portion (north of the Lippe River) is still called Hohe Mark ("Higher Mark"), while the former "Lower Mark" (between the Ruhr and Lippe Rivers) is — for the most part — merged in the present Ruhr area.

The County of the Mark enclosed an area of approximately 3,000 km² and extended between the Lippe and Agger Rivers (north-south) and between Gelsenkirchen and Bad Sassendorf (west-east) for about 75 km. The east-west flowing Ruhr separated the county in two different regions: the northern, fertile lowlands of Hellweg-Börde; and the southern hills of the Süderbergland (Sauerland). In the south-north direction the southern part of the county was crossed by the Lenne. In the region of the Lower Lenne was the County of Limburg (1243-1808), a fiefdom of Berg.

George Mark Collie (born January 18, 1956) is an American country music artist and occasional actor. He has released eight albums, and has charted 16 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His highest peaking singles are "Even the Man in the Moon Is Cryin'" at #5, and "Born to Love You" at #6, from 1992 and 1993 respectively. Collie has also appeared in several films and television series, and has written songs for George Jones, Tim McGraw, Aaron Tippin and Garth Brooks.

A new album called "Alive at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary" was released by Wilbanks Entertainment on May 1st, 2012.

George Mark Collie was born January 18, 1956 in Waynesboro, Tennessee, one of six siblings. Inspired by acts on the Sun Records roster, he learned how to play piano and guitar at an early age, and founded his first band at age twelve.

Later, Collie worked as a disc jockey. He volunteered to join the U.S. Army, but was rejected, reputedly due to his diabetes. Collie made his living as a musician in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with Ray Pillow recording one of his songs in 1977. The song, "Nighttime Masquerade", was the b-side to Pillow's 1979 single "Super Lady".

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel."

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which became very popular and brought nationwide attention. His travelogues were also well-received. Twain had found his calling.

He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.

Mark Reed Levin (born September 21, 1957) is a lawyer, author and the host of American syndicated radio show The Mark Levin Show. Levin served in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and was a chief of staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese. He is president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, has authored bestselling books and contributes commentary to various media outlets such as National Review Online.

Mark Reed Levin was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Cheltenham High School after three years. After high school, Levin enrolled at Temple University Ambler including summer classes and graduated in 1977 at age 19, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He also earned a juris doctorate from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1980.

Beginning in 1981, Levin served as advisor to several members of President Ronald Reagan's cabinet, eventually becoming Associate Director of Presidential Personnel and ultimately Chief of Staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese; Levin also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, and Deputy Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Mark Nelson Chesnutt (born September 6, 1963 in Beaumont, Texas) is an American country music singer. Chesnutt recorded and released his first album, Doing My Country Thing, in the late-1980s on private independent record label, Axbar Records, with the vinyl album version now a collector's item. His national debut came in 1990 with the single, "Too Cold at Home", the debut single from his second album which was also titled Too Cold at Home.

Chesnutt has charted more than thirty singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including eight #1 singles. He has also released eleven studio albums and a Greatest Hits package. His first three albums — Too Cold at Home (1990), Longnecks & Short Stories (1992), and Almost Goodbye (1993) — and his 1996 Greatest Hits album have all achieved RIAA platinum certification in the United States, while 1994's What a Way to Live was certified gold. His most recent album, Rollin' with the Flow, was released on June 24, 2008. Its title track and lead-off single was a cover of Charlie Rich's hit single from 1977.