ILLUSTRATIONS EDGAR ALLAN POE. Photogravure . . Frontispiece The earliest authentic portrait, from a miniature in oil in possession of his sister Rosalie Poe. Taken at the old "Lee Gallery" of Davies, Richmond, Va. The entrance was on the side, with wooden stairway. POE'S DESK. Used by him at office of the Southern Literary Messenger, 40 80 SPIRITUAL SONG. 138 Fragment of a poem, from Poe's Southern Literary MEMOIR EDGAR ALLAN POE was born at Boston, Massachusetts, January 19, 1809. This was the date entered for him in the matriculation book at the University of Virginia in 1826. Other evidence exists to establish the date as true, although Poe himself has given the year of his birth as both 1811 and 1813. His age as recorded at the United States War Department and at West Point Military Academy is also at variance with the accepted date of his birth. The question of correct age did not seem to give Poe much concern. In Burton's Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1840, he wrote: "The infirmity of falsifying our age is at least as old as the time of Cicero, who, hearing one of his contemporaries attempting to make out that he was ten years younger than he really was, very drily remarked, 'Then, at the time you and I were at school together, you were not born.'" Poe also called himself both a "Bostonian" and a "Virginian." His mother, Elizabeth Arnold, arrived at Boston early in 1796, accompanied by her mother, an actress from the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Mrs. Arnold soon afterwards married a Mr. Tubbs, but their history is unknown. The daughter followed a theatrical career, and Carr's Musical Repository for 1800 published, among the popular songs of the day "Tink a Tink," and "Chica cho," as sung by Miss Arnold in "Blue Beard." She married C. D. Hopkins, an actor, about May, 1800. He died October 26, 1805, and shortly afterwards she married another member of her theatrical company named David Poe. He came from Baltimore, Maryland, where his family connections stood well. The first child, William Henry Leonard Poe, was probably born in 1807. He was afterwards taken in charge by his father's family at Baltimore. The Boston tax office shows that David Poe, actor, was assessed in May, 1809, with three hundred dollars, personal property, which represented at least double that amount. The Poe family left Boston in the fall of 1809, and joined the New York Company, playing with them until the end of the following season in July. In New York all definite traces of David Poe seem lost. Mrs. Poe joined her old company and appeared with them without her husband, at Richmond. Virginia, August i8, 1810. The notice in the Richmond Enquirer of that date announcing the play," Castle Spectre," has, "Mrs. Poe as Angela (From the Theatre, New York)." She also took the part of "Maria" in the afterpiece called, "Of Age To-morrow." All the names of the company were printed, but that of David Poe did not appear. A benefit was given Mrs. Poe September 21, when she sang and danced. The company left Richmond November 14, 1810. The fact that the company with Mrs. Poe were in Norfolk, Virginia, in December, and that she did not appear upon the stage, would indicate that her third child, Rosalie, was born there about that date. This event probably occurred at the Forrest Mansion, in that city, and has led to the supposition by some, that it was Edgar's birth, instead of his sister's. E. A. Poe stated that his father died within a few weeks of his mother at Richmond, Virginia, which cannot be verified. Strong evidence to the contrary tends to show that David Poe was dead, or had deserted his family, prior to Mrs. Poe's last visit to Richmond. F. W. Thomas in his manuscript Recollections of E. A. Poe states: "I was intimate with Poe's brother in Baltimore during the year 1828. He was a slim, feeble young man, with dark inexpressive eyes, and his forehead had nothing like the expansion of his brother's. His manners were fastidious. We visited lady acquaintances together, and he wrote Byron poetry in albums, which had little originality. He recited in private and was proud of his oratorical powers. He often deplored the early death of his mother, but pretended not to know what had become of his father. I was told by a lawyer intimate with the family that his father had deserted his mother in New York. Both his parents had visited Baltimore when he was a child, and they sent money from Boston to pay for his support." Mrs. Poe went to Charleston, South Carolina, after leaving Norfolk, and the Courier of that city printed the following, April 28, 1811: "For the benefit of Mrs. Poe on Monday evening April 29th, will be presented, 'The Wonder,' or 'A Woman Keeps a Secret'; after the play a comic pantomimical ballet called 'Hurry Scurry, or the Devil among the Mechanics,' to which will be added, the much admired entertainment called 'The Highland Reel.'" Mrs. Poe and her company returned to Norfolk, Virginia, the following July. In a notice of Mrs. Poe's benefit, July 26, 1811, the Norfolk Herald printed a communication stating: "Misfortunes have pressed heavily upon Mrs. Poe, who has been left alone, the 1 All statements from F. W. Thomas are from the same source. |