However, all but two were rejected, convincing Howard not to continue the series. In 1929, at the age of twenty-three, Howard had regular markets for several series, including Kull, Solomon Kane and Sailor Steve Costigan. With this, Howard quit taking college courses and became a full-time writer. During Howard's youth his parents' relationship began to break down. The Howard family had problems with money which may have been exacerbated by Isaac Howard investing in get-rich-quick schemes. Hester Howard, meanwhile, came to believe that she had married below herself. Soon the pair were actively fighting. Hester did not want Isaac to have anything to do with their son. During Howard's youth his mother Hester had a particularly strong influence on his intellectual growth. Known throughout her family as a kind and giving woman—she had selflessly spent her early years helping a variety of sick relatives, contracting tuberculosis in the process. It was she who instilled in her son a deep love of poetry and literature, recited verse daily and supported him unceasingly in his efforts to write. Howard never forgot her many kindnesses both to himself and his extended family, and her growing sickness and invalidity did much to cement his view of existence as heartless, unfair, and ultimately futile. Talking to aging Civil War veterans and Texas Rangers, listening to grisly ghost stories told by his grandmother and ex-slaves, and visiting old forts and historical sites all had a strong influence on his personality. By the time he reached his teens, Howard had soaked in the dying of the Frontier, the bloody history and legends of the American Southwest, and the art of the tall tale. Mary Bohannon was a cook when the Howard family lived in Bagwell, Texas during 1913–1914. She told ghost stories to the young Robert E. Howard, one of which became the basis for "Pigeons from Hell", one of Howard's most acclaimed works. Bohannon was born a slave in Kentucky sometime between 1825 and 1836. She came to Bagwell area when her owners, Henry and Pauline Bohannon moved to Red River County in the 1850s. Following the American Civil War, the white Bohannons left the area but Mary remained. She sold her house in 1907 and both the 1910 and 1920 censuses state that she was living with the family of Lottie Hite Dennis. She may have been working as a cook in general or possibly as the Howard family's cook. Mary Bohannon dies February 27, 1921.