The Richmond Theatre Fire

72 people died on December 26, 1811, when the Broad Street Theatre in Richmond, Virginia burned down. Eliza Poe was not one of them.

Though Eliza Poe, mother of Edgar Poe, had performed there and, in fact, gave her last performance there, she was already dead when the building caught fire. Years later, Poe would claim his mother was one of the many victims of that tragedy.

In fact, Eliza Poe had died about two weeks earlier, presumably from tuberculosis. Things moved very quickly from there. Young Edgar may have been taken in by John and Frances Allan as a foster child as early as the same day as Eliza's death. On about December 11, the Allans had him baptized (using the unofficial name "Edgar Allan Poe"). When the fire occurred, the Allan family, including young Edgar, was celebrating the Christmas holiday at Turkey Island, Virginia, southeast of Richmond on the James River. A letter to John Allan dated January 7, 1812, notes: "How fortunate that yourself & family were out of town" when the fire occurred.

A couple years later, a memorial church was built on the former site of the theatre. John Allan purchased one of the pews, number 80, for $340 as the family pew in April 1814.

Poe used the fire for sympathy points in 1829. Seeking to leave the Army and earn an appointment at West Point, he had a colonel named James House write to the general E. P. Gaines: "The said Perry [Poe's Army alias], is one of a family of orphans whose unfortunate parents were the victims of the conflagration of the Richmond theatre." The same letter also incorrectly notes that Allan had adopted Poe as "his son & heir" (neither claim was true).

Poe may have tried to cast his acting parents in a more noble light, considering that most actors were not considered noble by the public at the time (one historian noted that, though audiences loved drama, they did not respect those that performed it). Perhaps not coincidentally, Poe's loving foster-mother Frances Valentine Allan had died just before the claim was made that Eliza Poe died in the fire.

Interestingly enough, the theatre where Eliza Poe performed for the last time in Boston — the city where her two sons were born — also caught fire. Its stage, however, was preserved. Years later, Poe also "performed" on that same stage in Boston in what has been called the Boston Lyceum "incident." Poe likely did not realize the coincidence.

* The illustration above is from Richmond Then and Now.

Poe drops out

His stint at the University of Virginia over, a 17-year old Edgar Poe left Charlottesville, Virginia on December 21, 1826 and returned to Richmond.

Poe's short run at "Thomas Jefferson's University" was bittersweet. Jefferson envisioned a school which would "develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instill into them the precepts of virtue and order." In his optimism, the university he founded in Virginia had no church on campus, and he and the faculty agreed students should be self-governed and follow rules "on their honor." Their optimism was met with disaster.

During Poe's time there, the "scholastic anarchy and student escapades disturbed the peace of the College, Charlottesville, and the plantations about." Gambling, drinking, and fighting (which even included faculty!) were rampant. Poe wrote to John Allan once of a student hit on the head by another with a large stone, causing him to draw a pistol ("which are all the fashion here"). Another fight led to one student biting another. "I saw the arm afterwards," Poe wrote, "and it was really a serious matter—It was bitten from the shoulder to the elbow—and it is likely that pieces of flesh as large as my hand will be obliged to be cut out."

Nevertheless, Poe excelled and distinguished himself as a student of languages. He may have met Jefferson himself and mourned with the rest of the campus when their founder died. However, John Allan had (purposely?) sent Poe to school without enough money to cover general expenses, such as tuition. Poe turned to gambling and soon was in heavy debt. Allan would not allow him to continue after his first semester. The book store at UVa now sells a t-shirt with Poe's visage above the words "dropout."

With no other options, Poe returned to Moldavia and may have worked as a bookkeeper with his foster-father John Allan — and possibly without pay. Soon, he would strike out on his own as an enlisted soldier.

In Memoriam: Eliza Poe

Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, known today mostly as "Eliza Poe," died on December 8, 1811 in Richmond, VA. She was 24 years old and left behind three children.

Eliza Arnold was born in London, England in 1787. After her father's death, she sailed with her mother, an actress, to Boston in 1795. There, a nine-year-old Eliza debuted on stage, playing a character named Biddy Blair. That year, her mother re-married and the couple became founding members of a new acting troupe. Though her mother died in 1798, Eliza stayed with the group of traveling actors. Throughout her stage career, Eliza played over 300 characters, including a few singing roles.

In the summer of 1802, at age 15, Eliza married Charles Hopkins, though he died three years later. An 18-year old widow and orphan, she soon met David Poe, Jr. in Virginia. He joined the acting troupe, despite his family's intentions for him to become a lawyer. Eliza and David married in 1806. As it turned out, he was a poor actor, and soon turned to drinking.

Nine months into marriage, the couple's first son was born in Boston. They named him William Henry Leonard Poe. Two years later, their second son was born in that same city (Eliza performed up until 10 days before his birth), on January 19, 1809. They named him Edgar Poe.

David Poe disappeared before Eliza's third child, a daughter named Rosalie, was born. Abandoned by her husband, Eliza did her best to support the small, struggling family. In 1811, however, while in Richmond, she began spitting blood. She performed for the last time on October 11 of that year. Shortly after, advertisements were printed about a benefit performance on Eliza's behalf.

Surrounded by her children, Eliza died (likely of tuberculosis) on December 8, 1811. Her three orphaned children were split up. She was buried in an unmarked grave at St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond (the same church where Patrick Henry had once asked, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"). Years later, a memorial marker was placed there in her honor (seen at right).

The only likeness of Eliza Poe was a small, watercolor miniature that eventually came into the possession of Edgar, who likely remembered little of his mother. She also left him a watercolor painting of Boston Harbor. On the back, she asked Edgar to "always remember Boston," the city of his birth.

RIP, Eliza.

An appeal to the humane heart

TO THE HUMANE HEART
On this night, Mrs. Poe, lingering on the bed of disease and surrounded by her children, asks your assistance, and asks it perhaps for the last time. — The generosity of a Richmond Audience can need no other appeal.

This appeal, printed in the Richmond Inquirer on November 29, 1811, advertised that evening's benefit performance for Mrs. Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. She was an acclaimed British-born actress, playing such roles as Shakespeare's Ophelia and Juliet Capulet. She outlived her first husband and her second, David Poe, seems to have abandoned not only his wife but his three children as well. Now, without adult family, Eliza Poe (as she was called) was on her deathbed, dying of tuberculosis.

To get an idea for how much Eliza Poe was respected in the theatrical world, especially in Richmond, here's an excerpt on the article on this benefit performance from the Virginia Patriot:

In consequence of the serious and long continued indisposition of Mrs. Poe, and in compliance with the advice and solicitation of many of the most respectable families, the managers have been inducted to appropriate another night for her benefit — Taking into consideration the state of her health, and the probability of this being the last time she will ever receive the patronage of the public, the appropriation of another night for her assistance will certainly be grateful to their feelings, as it will give them an opportunity to display their benevolent remembrance.

The staff at the Richmond Theater hoped a benefit performance would bring in money to assist in Eliza's medical bills but, certainly, they must have also hoped to offer money for the children just in case she didn't survive. In fact, Mrs. Eliza Poe would die less than two weeks later, leaving behind her children William Henry Leonard, Rosalie, and, of course, her middle child Edgar — who was then less than three years old.

Ellis partners with Allan

John Allan, who would become Poe's foster-father, joined into a partnership with Charles Ellis on November 23, 1800. It was nearly nine years before Poe's birth in Boston. Their mercantile business, which would take the name "Ellis & Allan," was started with a contribution of £1,000 sterling from each.

The Richmond-based company mainly focused on tobacco, though they also dealt in cloths and clothing, agricultural tools and hardware. They also sold wheat, corn meal, grains, teas and coffees, and wines. Some sources even suggest that Ellis & Allan traded slaves. By 1812, the company listed its assets as worth $223,113 (equal to well over $2 million today).

Three years later, John Allan married Frances Valentine. She was unable to have children and, about eight years after their marriage, she insisted the couple take in a boy who hard recently been orphaned in Richmond. More on that next month.

Ellis & Allan did fairly well — well enough that the partners attempted to establish an overseas branch in England. It was Allan who was sent to manage that branch (the experience would later inspire his ward to write a story set there). During their five years abroad, John Allan met the first American man of letters Washington Irving, but the company was suffering. They gave up on the venture and the Allans returned to the United States after about five years. In fact, John Allan would become a millionaire not because of his role as a merchant, but through other fortuitous means.

By mutual consent, the successful firm was dissolved in 1824. Six years later, Charles Ellis's brother Powhatan Ellis (by then a U.S. Senator from Mississippi) provided a recommendation letter to grant Poe admission to the Military Academy at West Point.

Young Poe and Lafayette

Here's another story of Poe's teen years. At the age of 15, a young Edgar Poe served as a lieutenant (in fact, second-in-command) for the Richmond Junior Volunteers, a group of teenaged riflemen-in-training. This role put him in the direct path of the Marquis de La Fayette, one of the most celebrated generals of the American Revolution.

La Fayette, on his tour of the United States nearly a half-decade after the Revolution, included a three-day tour of Richmond. During a parade, Poe's group of Junior Volunteers were chosen to accompany General La Fayette's carriage.

We don't know for sure if Poe and La Fayette had a conversation, shook hands, or anything like that (though, allegedly, La Fayette himself inspected all his young bodyguards to make sure they were in full uniform). However, we know that Poe was particularly proud of his role that day. Years later, Thomas Ellis (son of Charles Ellis, business partner of Poe's foster-father John Allan) wrote: "But never was I more proud of [Poe] than when, dressed in the uniform... he walked up and down in front of the marquee erected on the Capitol Square, under which the old general held a grand reception." Poe's pride in this uniformed group may have inspired his attempts at joining the military. At one point, he even considers soliciting La Fayette himself to earn an appointment to the Polish Army.

Three weeks after the parade, Poe partnered with another boy, "Captain" John Lyle, in writing a letter to the governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. They asked for permission "to retain the arms which they lately were permitted to draw from the Armory." A couple days later, the two boys met with a member of the Virginia State Council to further discuss the proposition.

During the same trip to the United States, the Marquis de La Fayette visited Baltimore. The young Edgar probably didn't know that the only person La Fayette asked about in Baltimore was his good friend "General" David Poe, Poe's paternal grandfather. Distressed to hear of his death, La Fayette went to visit his grave at Westminster Burying Ground — next to the plot where Poe would be (first) buried only 25 years later. There, he said, Ici repose un coeur noble ("Here rests a noble heart").

*The image above is of La Fayette circa 1825, shortly after his Richmond trip. The artist is believed to be Matthew Harris Jouett. It is now part of the National Portrait Gallery.

Poe takes his last trip

On September 27, 1849, Edgar A. Poe fell off the radar. He will not be seen or heard from again for another six days.

The night before his disappearance, there are several stories about what he was doing; how true they are is debated. He apparently visited the office of the Southern Literary Messenger (his former employer) to meet with John R. Thompson. He told Thompson he was leaving for New York the next day but stopping in Philadelphia on the way. In Philadelphia, he was supposed to edit a volume of (bad) poetry by a poetaster named Mrs. Marguerite St. Leon Loud — a gig he only accepted for the decent pay. Thompson gave Poe $5 to cover the trip (as well as a letter to give to Rufus Griswold in Philadelphia); Poe paid him back with a manuscript of a poem titled "Annabel Lee." Likely, this was just a gift, not intended for publication, as "Annabel Lee" had just been sold to John Sartain of the Union Magazine. Thompson published it anyway, claiming to Griswold that he paid "a high price" for it. Information from Thompson comes from his letter to Griswold as well as interviews with the questionable William Fearing Gill, an early (fanatic) biographer of Poe.

Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton claimed that Poe visited her at home the same day. "He came up to my house on the evening of the 26th Sept. to take leave of me — He was very sad, and complained of being quite sick." Elmira claimed he had a fever and urged him not to travel in such a condition the next day. She claims that she confirmed he had already left the next morning when she tried to check on him. Elmira's recollections often wavered so she may or may not be credible.

"About half-past nine" in the evening, Poe visited a young doctor named John F. Carter, presumably for the fever Elmira mentioned. He left (supposedly switching canes with Carter) to eat dinner at Sadler's Restaurant. According to Dr. Carter, the restaurant later told him Poe left "at exactly twelve that night" to board a boat which would depart at four o'clock. Biographer Arthur Hobson Quinn did some considerable thinking about this aspect of the story, whether Poe was really taking a boat which left at 4 a.m. or one at 4 p.m. and which boat, if any, was scheduled to leave that day.

Either way, it was the next day, September 27, a Thursday, when Poe left Richmond. It is believed he boarded a steamer to Baltimore (odd, considering the plans he revealed to John Thompson), identified by Arthur Hobson Quinn and others as Pocahontas. If it was this particular ship, we know that it successfully arrived in Baltimore the next day. Whether it was the next day or not, Poe's next appearance (six days later) would definitely be in Baltimore. Speculation rages if Poe went to Baltimore first, then went on to Philadelphia or New York, then returned to Baltimore, or if he never made it out of Baltimore. That's not including the speculation about whether or not Poe actually left on the 27th or if he went a day or two later. Poe was not in a condition to explain any of it. More on that soon.

The Last Lecture

At 8:00 p.m. on September 24, 1849, Edgar Poe presented his last lecture on "The Poetic Principle." Held at the Exchange Hotel in Richmond, Poe's lecture discussed his poetic theory, particularly that a poem should be written merely for the sake of being a poem, not as instruction. Poetry is art, he implies, and therefore should focus on pure beauty and aesthetics. He also says that a poem should be short, able to be read in a single sitting. He gave specific examples of poets he thought were good, and others he thought were bad.

Poe had given lectures on the topic before, including one in Richmond. In fact, the local newspaper that day, Daily Republican, noted, "Although it is a repetition, we are sure that few, if any, who attended his first lecture, would be unwilling to hear it over again, and those who were not present on that occasion, will deprive themselves of a delightful entertainment by failing to attend to-night." One of the audience members was Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton, who supposedly had a prime seat in the front row. 57 years later, the (usually unreliable source) Susan Archer Talley wrote that Rosalie Poe was there too.

We don't know for sure what was said in the original lectures. His first versions of it were lost or stolen and had to be rewritten. The manuscript from his September lecture in Richmond, however, apparently survived and was found in Poe's trunk after his death. According to the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, poet/editor Bayard Taylor wanted to sell this manuscript to George Graham for the benefit of Maria Clemm. Instead, it was purchased by John Sartain, who published it in his Union Magazine in October 1850. Taylor, working on behalf of Rufus Griswold, likely never turned the money over to Mrs. Clemm.

From that published version of the lecture, we see that Poe praises William Cullen Bryant ("The intense melancholy which seems to well up, perforce, to the surface of all the poet's cheerful sayings about his grave, we find thrilling us to the soul — while there is the truest poetic elevation in the thrill. The impression left is one of a pleasurable sadness.") as well as Edward Coote Pinkney, Lord Byron, and Lord Tennyson.

It was Poe's last public appearance before he vanished.

Dearest object on earth

A letter was written to Maria Clemm, mother-in-law of Edgar Poe, on September 22, 1849. The letter-writer was a woman who had never met Maria, yet she wrote: "I feel as if I were writing to one whom I love very devotedly." Sarah Elmira Shelton (nee Royster) was encouraged to write this letter by her new fiancee, Edgar Poe.

Poe had first met Elmira when they were both teenagers in Richmond, but their budding romance was cut short due to the intervention of her father while Poe was away at the University of Virginia. The failed romance inspired a short story by Poe's brother William Henry Leonard Poe and, possibly, a play by Lambert A. Wilmer, a Baltimore friend of W. H. L. Poe. If nothing else, many of Poe's early poems about lost love or youthful folly seem inspired by the relationship.

Elmira married Alexander Shelton, but Mr. Shelton died shortly before she crossed paths with Poe again. Poe dropped in on her in July 1848 (she wrote, "I was ready to go to church and a servant told me that a gentleman in the parlor wanted to see me. I went down and was amazed to see him — but knew him instantly.") and it seems their relationship picked up right where it left off. However, Alexander Shelton's will stipulated that the ample inheritance left for her would be cut substantially. He pushed, she acquiesced, and it all happened very quickly: His visit was September 17, her letter to Maria Clemm was only five days later. In it, she referred to him as her "dearest object on earth." Nevertheless, it seems Elmira's family, particularly her brothers, never approved of the coupling. Poe then left Richmond on September 27, 1849. The marriage would never take place; Poe died two weeks after the letter from Elmira to Maria Clemm was written.

After Poe's death, Elmira kept tight-lipped about her relationship with Poe. She later said she would not have married him "under any circumstances" — a strange thing to say, considering what she wrote to Maria Clemm. She changed her tune again in June 1884 when she was interviewed by Dr. John J. Moran, who was preparing a booklet on his experience as Poe's attending physician in his last days. Moran's account is known for its lack of credibility in general but Elmira's changing testimony is questionable and confusing, which has led to some suspicion about her family's role in Poe's death...

Rosalie Mackenzie Poe

Poe's younger sister was christened "Rosalie Mackenzie Poe" in Richmond on September 3, 1812. I've discussed Poe's older brother here before, but this is the first (and, likely, the only) post on his sister.

Rosalie is a bit of an enigma; even her birth is unknown (believed to be about December 20, 1810). Rumors persist that she was mentally deficient in some way, though it's unclear if these reports are just another attempt at slandering Poe.* Rumors also suggest that she was not the daughter of David Poe, Jr., father of Edgar and William Henry Leonard Poe, but that she was a bastard child, born after mother Eliza Poe had an affair with another man (inspiring David to abandon her).** While Eliza was on her deathbed, her children, including Rosalie, were tended to by fellow actors with the last name of Usher. After Eliza's death, the Mackenzie family of Richmond took in her youngest daughter and legally adopted her (something that the Allan family never did for Poe).

When William and Jane (Scott) Mackenzie took little Rosalie in, they already had two children (a third, the first-born, died within his first year). They eventually would have ten children in addition to the little one they adopted. Only a couple days after her christening, a woman reported to Frances Allan (Poe's foster-mother) that "Rosalie is not expected to live." Despite the pessimistic outlook, Rosalie survived that illness and, in fact, went on to outlive her brother by 25 years.

Rosalie attended a girls' school in Richmond run by Miss Jane Mackenzie, sister of adoptive father William Mackenzie. Although they grew up in the same town, it is unclear if Poe saw his sister often in his early years (though the Allan family and the Mackenzie family did correspond). In 1842, she traveled to Philadelphia to spend a week with her blood brother (he called her "Rose")e. They corresponded from then on, Poe giving her updates on his wife Virginia's health and she requesting autographs for friends. In 1843, the Mackenzies built a home they named Duncan Lodge, where Poe visited a few times in 1848 and 1849. Rosalie became either a teacher or a teacher's assistant at Miss Jane's school for about nine years. We know she played the piano; the Richmond Poe Museum still has the piano on which she played.

Rosalie was raised in relative wealth. However, after the Civil War, the family fortune was squandered by one of her brothers-by-adoption. Rosalie should have been the legal heir to Poe's published works after her brother's death. Instead, somehow his works were given to Rufus Griswold, either by mistake, by trickery, or by Maria Clemm (Poe's mother-in-law). Rosalie made some attempts, under the advice of a lawyer named J. R. Thompson, to claim those rights. The result was a bit of a family quarrel between Rosalie and Maria Poe (who was also her father's sister). Griswold seems to have also stepped in to push Rosalie aside.

Instead, Rosalie became a desperate beggar, occasionally supported by fans of her brother's work. She survived as best she could by selling portraits of her brother the famous author. In her 60s, she was admitted to a shelter in Washington, D.C. There, she died on July 21, 1874. She had expressed a hope to be buried by her brother. Instead, she was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery in a pauper's grave owned by the home.

* Some state these rumors as fact. Jeffrey Meyers reports she was "a dull, tedious, pathetic figure, [who] failed to develop mentally after the age of twelve" and that Poe was "repelled" by her. Earlier, biographer Joseph Wood Krutch called her a "harmless imbecile."

** One such accusation came from John Allan, Poe's less-than-ideal foster-father (perhaps ironic, considering Allan had his own bastard children). It doesn't seem impossible. Either way, Poe biographer William Bitter blames Allan's rumor-mongering for Rosalie never getting married.

A Poe romance

September 1, 1827 saw the third and final installment of Merlin, a play in verse by Maryland writer Lambert A. Wilmer. Published in the North American, the three-act play followed a heroine named Elmira and her despondent pursuer Alphonse. The drama was based on the true story of a young Edgar Poe — the first in what would be a long series of fictionalized stories about Poe over several decades.*

As a young man, Poe pursued a neighboring Richmond woman named Sarah Elmira Royster. The relationship seemed strong enough and the couple apparently made some kind of agreement to get married. Poe then left Richmond to attend the University of Virginia and, somehow, the relationship ended. Poe wrote her often, imploring for a response. Miserable at college, quickly running out of money (due to insufficient support from his guardian John Allan) and, now, nursing a broken heart, the seventeen-year old Poe eventually gave up on his studies and never graduated. Royster, he assumed, had forgotten him, perhaps fallen in love with another man.

As it turns out, the villain of this real-life story was none other than Royster's father, who carefully intercepted each of Poe's letters before his daughter saw them. After months of hearing nothing from her husband-to-be, she gave up on him. By the time Poe returned home from his unsuccessful stint at the University, Poe realized Royster was no longer available. One story says that Poe went to see her at her family home and was surprised to find a party being hosted there — it turned out to be Royster's engagement party.

Whether that story is true or not, Poe and Royster lost their opportunity to live happily ever after — for now. The star-crossed lovers whose relationship inspired a play would rekindle their relationship many years later, when both were widows. That story will be told later this month.

* Though modern works like Matthew Pearl's The Poe Shadow or Louis Bayard's The Pale Blue Eye come to mind first and foremost, this post shows that neither author was doing anything particularly new or innovative. Literally scores of works based on Poe have been produced over the years, including short stories, novels, video games, and films.

Poe stays sober

Perhaps the biggest event in Poe's life which inspired this blog, what occurred on August 27, 1849 continues to surprise casual readers of Poe who thought they already knew all about the man...

On August 27, 1849, Edgar A. Poe pledged to abstain from alcohol and stay sober indefinitely. It was a Monday evening when he was initiated into the Shockoe Hill Division (no. 54) of the Sons of Temperance, sworn in by William J. Glenn. Speculation has raged as far as how serious Poe was about this pledge. He had to have been somewhat committed to the idea, if only because membership required a fee. He may have done it to impress a potential second wife he was courting in Richmond (more on her another time) or, as biographer Kenneth Silverman speculates, "the effects of his drinking... had frightened him." A few days earlier, after one of his (rare but excessive) binges, a doctor suggested that drinking would kill him.

The reality is that throughout his life, Poe was aware of the problems that alcohol caused him, and he often made an effort to avoid drinking. Extant letters show updates Poe gave to friends and family about his efforts. But, even if we can't trust Poe's first-hand claims, other accounts do exist. For example, one friend reported that Poe went a full eighteen months* without a single drop of alcohol while living and working in Philadelphia. This undisputed account lends serious evidence against the prevalent image of Poe as a perpetual drunk. His joining the Sons of Temperance in 1849 may have been a final declaration that he would win his battle against alcoholism.

What really would have helped Poe stick to being sober this time? I'd speculate that Poe hoped the special nature of his pledge would make a difference: His membership was very public and, within three weeks, several newspapers were reporting about it in Richmond, Raleigh, Philadelphia, and Boston. Temperance advocates considered Poe's membership a great victory and a boon to their cause as they hoped he would lend his pen to the movement. One wrote, "We trust his pen will sometimes be employed in its behalf. A vast amount of good might be accomplished by so pungent and forcible a writer." Poe, in fact, had already written two temperance tales, of a sort: "The Black Cat" and the humorous "The Angel of the Odd." Writing was important to the group as a form of propoganda to get the word out about their movement; the Sons of Temperance would soon even create their own literary journal (edited by T. S. Arthur, author of Ten Nights in a Bar-Room).

The fact that Poe vowed to stay sober has led to further confusion over his final days right before his mysterious death — which will occur less than two months after taking his temperance pledge.

Perhaps ironically, August 27 is also the anniversary of the death of one of the many responsible for exaggerating Poe's drinking habits. Rufus Wilmot Griswold died this day in 1857 at the age of 42.

* There does not seem to be any question over the veracity of this statement. Give Poe credit for what he was doing: Poe kept his alcoholism in check before it was considered a disease, before self-help books, before AA meetings, etc. By the way, the image above is from a great online exhibit by the Library Company of Philadelphia called "Ardent Spirits."

The Poetic Principle: A rich intellectual treat

Edgar Poe presented an evening lecture on August 17, 1849 in Richmond titled "The Poetic Principle." The lecture, which adapted a similar one presented in Providence, Rhode Island in December 1848, was held at the Exchange Hotel. It began at 8:00 p.m. and admission was 25 cents. Poe spoke to a room filled to capacity.

Poe's appearance was a highly-anticipated event in the city which embraced him as one of their own. One newspaper proudly hailed him as "a native of this city [who] was reared in our midst." Another hyped up the lecture in advance, advising its readers: "Those who desire to enjoy a real treat, should hear this effort of Mr. Poe's." The Richmond Whig newspaper teased that Poe would conclude by reciting "The Raven."

His audience was not disappointed.

The Whig, despite looking forward to hearing "The Raven," had apparently not expected much from Poe. After the lecture, they reported: "We attended the Lecture of Mr. Poe... with the expectation of hearing nothing more than the common dissertation upon the poetic faculty... We must say we were never more delighted in our lives." The Daily Republican reported it was "one of the richest intellectual treats... The clearness and melody of his voice, and the harmonious accentuation of his words, were soul inspiring." Novelist John Esten Cooke recalled that Poe "stood in a graceful attitude, leaning one hand on a small table beside him, and his wonderfully clear and musical voice speedily brought the audience under its spell. Those who heard this strange voice once, never afterwards forgot it... The lecture ended in the midst of applause."

The content of the lecture on "The Poetic Principle" was distinctly Poe. One contemporary review notes that Poe denounced the didacticism in poetry as the "heresy of modern times" rather than allowing a poem to stand for beauty and nothing more. He spoke about specific authors and both praised and criticized as appropriate. Among those he mentioned was Edward Coote Pinkney, likely the American poet which Poe most admired. He also read from the work of Tennyson. Even journalist John M. Daniel, with whom Poe had once almost dueled, reluctantly admitted: "Mr. Poe is a man of very decided genius. Indeed, we know of no other writer in the United States, who has half the chance to be remembered in the history of literature" (though he rightly predicted his reputation would be based on a small number of works).

The irony might be that Poe lost his lecture notes before he made it to Virginia. That means he had to rewrite it just before taking the center stage.

"I never was received with so much enthusiasm," Poe reported to his mother-in-law Maria Clemm. The lecture later became the essay of the same name, published posthumously. That manuscript is somewhat controversial; allegedly found after Poe's death, it was first published by Rufus Wilmot Griswold in his collected works of Poe. The original manuscript was immediately lost after publication.

Mrs. Shelton is widowed

Alexander Barrett Shelton died of pneumonia at the age of 37 on July 12, 1844 in Richmond, Virginia. He left behind his widow, Sarah Elmira Shelton, and two children — as well as an estate valued at $100,000 (in 1844 dollars, equal to about $2.2 million today). He made his fortune in the transportation industry as the co-owner of a substantial boat route along the James River.

Poe met the widow when she was still Sarah Elmira Royster. At age 15/16, Poe and Elmira (as he called her) spent much of their free time together in Richmond, becoming childhood sweethearts. In 1825, the couple seems to have gotten secretly engaged right before Poe entered the University of Virginia. While at school, Poe sent several letters to his beloved and got more and more anxious when she never responded to any of them. In reality, her father had intercepted the letters and destroyed them before they could be read. Elmira thought Poe had forgotten her and, in 1827, she married Alexander Shelton instead.

The loss of Poe's first relationship inspired several fictionalizations. Baltimore author Lamber A. Wilmer wrote a dramatic poem called Merlin on the relationship. Poe's older brother William Henry Leonard Poe (who seems to have made off with all the middle names while his two younger siblings received none) also fictionalized the romance in a short story called "The Pirate." Poe himself seems to express his emotions in his poems "The Happiest Day" and "Song." The latter seems to make a direct reference to Elmira's marriage to Alexander Shelton; the poem begins: "I saw thee on thy bridal day."

Years later, in 1848, Poe and Elmira met in Richmond again. By then, both were widows (Poe lost his wife Virginia three years after the death of Mr. Shelton). They seem to have almost instantly rekindled their relationship and Poe proposed marriage (again). Elmira carefully considered this; according to Shelton's will, re-marrying would strip her of one-third of her $100,000 inheritance. Her children also clearly did not approve, just as her father had not approved decades earlier. Yet, she clearly was drawn to Poe...

What happens next is a bit unclear. But, that is a discussion for a later date, perhaps a day in September?

The purchase of the house of Allan

At an auction held on June 28, 1825, merchant John Allan purchased a Richmond estate. Actually, he purchased parts of three lots from the late Joseph Gallego and the late John Richard.

One of those lots included the mansion nicknamed "Moldavia." The name was granted by earlier owners, Molly and David Randolph. The brick house included a large porch, a mirrored ballroom, an octagon-shaped dining room, and a wide mahogany stairway. It stood on the southeast corner of Main and Fifth Streets in Richmond (it is no longer standing). Allan's purchase totaled $14,950 — equal to about $270,000 today. He paid for it using much of the inheritance from his uncle William Galt.

Allan's young ward Edgar Poe was 16 years old at the time. It would not be long before he moved out and tried to make it on his own, at the University of Virginia, in the United States Army, and elsewhere, occasionally coming back to Moldavia to await his next opportunity. Poe would live an ironic adulthood, perpetually struggling financially, despite having spent a few of his teenage years living in a mansion owned by a millionaire. When Allan died, not a penny was left for his foster-son.

Perhaps not coincidentally, many of Poe's fictional works reference oversized mansions, including his earliest story "Metzengerstein." Other works that seem to reference Moldavia in their setting include "Ligeia" and, of course, "The Fall of the House of Usher."

The chess-playing robot is debunked

People were astounded by the accomplishments of a robot which not only was capable of playing chess, but which frequently beat its human competitors. "The Turk," as the robot was called (pictured in an engraving at right), had been touted throughout Europe by Wolfgang von Kempelen before being brought to the United States by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel in 1825. On June 1, 1828, however, a writer for the Baltimore Gazette questioned the authenticity of this modern marvel in an essay titled "The Chess-Player Discovered."

Edgar Poe may have witnessed this same automaton in action while in Richmond circa 1835. Poe, however, was not easily fooled and, perhaps more importantly, often questioned the sort of wonders he witnessed. In April 1836, the Southern Literary Messenger published Poe's own take of the chess-playing robot. The essay, titled "Maelzel's Chess-Player," tried to be more specific than the previous articles which debunked the robot hoax. Viewing the mystery almost like a game of chess, Poe analyzes the possible explanation for this marvelous "technology." He knows intuitively that it isn't possible, that it must be a fake — "the only question is the I manner in which human agency is brought to bear," he writes. Ultimately, Poe concludes that a very small person is operating the contraption from within, hiding in concealed compartments.

The reality is that The Turk had already been exposed as a fraud at least as early as June 1, 1828 — eight years before Poe's essay. What's important about Poe's story is the analysis he does, the step-by-step process, the method of debunking as much as possible before reaching his final conclusion. "Maelzel's Chess-Player" is, ultimately, a precursor to the "ratiocination" process which Poe will create in his character C. Auguste Dupin in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Yes, "Maelzel's Chess-Player" is another step towards Poe's invention of the modern detective story.

Poe, of course, was a hoaxster himself — among his most famous hoaxes is "The Balloon-Hoax," a story which suggested a gas balloon was able to cross the Atlantic Ocean in only three days. Poe would later borrow the name of the man who created The Turk in another hoax-like story about creating gold.

The Unusual Marriage of the Poes

The marriage which joined Edgar A. Poe to his teenage cousin Virginia Clemm was certainly unusual — and it has nothing to do with their blood relations or the bride's age.

There is a signed document (a not-so-good reproduction is pictured at right) dated May 16, 1836 which serves as the couple's official marriage bond. A deputy clerk named Thomas W. Cleland served as witness and testified that Virginia was, in fact, "of the full age of twenty-one years" (she was 13). The ceremony was officiated by a Presbyterian minister and attendees included Virginia's mother Maria Clemm (the younger sister of Poe's father), Poe's on-and-off boss Thomas W. White, and White's daughter Eliza (a young lady with whom Poe may have flirted for a time). The document from the city of Richmond was made under the agreement "that whereas marriage is shortly intended to be had and solemnized between... Edgar A. Poe and Virginia E. Clemm." It was signed 173 years ago today.

The question is: When did they really get married?

Several months earlier, on September 22, 1835, the Clerk of the Baltimore County Court issued a marriage license for Edgar and Virginia. She was 13; he was 27. There is debate if a marriage really took place (Arthur Hobson Quinn believes it impossible, Kenneth Silverman believes it to be likely). It seems, nevertheless, that the majority side with Quinn: Poe did not marry his 13-year old cousin.*

Instead, he married his 13-and-a-half-year old cousin on this date — May 16 — in 1836.

Those that believe the "secret" first marriage to be the "true" one suggested that the second "marriage" in 1836 was more public because, now only a few months shy of age 14, Virginia was of a more socially-acceptable age to marry. It's the difference between being just a month over age 13 or being just three months shy of 14. Reverend Amasa Converse did not seem to have a problem that the young woman was obviously not 21 years old as was claimed (for most of her life, she was described as "childlike" in appearance, even when in her 20s). The happy newlyweds then spent a couple days in Petersburg, Virginia.

I say this nonchalantly to prove a minor point: Virginia's age at marriage wasn't as shocking then as it seems today. Marriage at such a young age does not appear rampant in this period, but it also doesn't seem particularly uncommon. Poe seems to have been somewhat embarrassed, however, and occasionally (as on the wedding certificate) suggested that Virginia was older or that he himself was younger. For those that want to paint Poe as a pedophile, he did not take advantage of her. Unlike some, I will not psychoanalyze his writing (i.e. "Annabel Lee" or "Berenice") for examples that prove Virginia was, well, virginal. Poe's own words are better suited: most believe he was sincere when he said he slept alone and did not "assume the position of husband" for two years at least. Some suggest the couple never consummated their marriage at all.

Within 11 years of their marriage, Virginia would die of tuberculosis at the age of 24 — and, today, 162 years after her death, most still refer to her as Poe's "child bride," forced to never grow up in historical memory.

*As for the blood relationship, this was not entirely unusual either. I may write about this more in-depth in a later entry.

John Allan's will, part 2

When John Allan died on March 27, 1834, the Richmond Enquirer referred to him as "one of the worthiest citizens of Richmond... — and none was better known, none more highly respected — distinguished for his humanity, his hospitality, his attachment to his friends, his devotion to his family."

At the Circuit Superior Court of Law and Chancery for Henrico County, located within the Capitol in Richmond, John Allan's will was probated on May 8, 1834. Allan had struggled with his will for years — perhaps admirably. Despite two marriages, he had an affair on the side which produced at least two children (twins, in fact). The hard decision for him was whether to provide for them or not (he had likely given them at least some money throughout is life). In the final version of his will, Allan left money to the family of his first wife ("three hundred dollars annually" to his sister-in-law Ann Moore Valentine throughout "her natural life") and for "his fault" (his euphemism for his illegitimate children with Elizabeth Wills) he offered one-fifth of his estate or $4000 each when they reached 21 years old.

Though Allan claimed that his second wife (now widow) Louisa Patterson Allan knew all about his illegitimate children, she did not seem pleased with the now public admission of Allan's "fault." She renounced all her rights under the will and instead chose to take her share under the intestate law — meaning that she asked the court to pretend a will never existed. Concerned for Allan's three legitimate children with her, Louisa seems to have ensured that his illegitimate children earned nothing at all. I have not been able to determine how much of this information got to the public, if Allan suffered any posthumous social vilification, etc.

Allan's foster-son, Edgar Poe, of course, was left nothing in this will, or through intestate law. Some biographers have speculated that Louisa Allan's animosity towards her husband's old life prevented his concern for Poe. However, Allan's disinterest in Poe started much earlier. Allan for years had perceived an ingratitude from Poe — whether or not this is true is irrelevant because the perception alone was enough.

The death of Poe's first love

185 years ago today, Poe's first love died. Or so they say.
Mrs. Jane Stith Craig Stanard died April 28, 1824, when Poe was only 15 years old. He met her through a Richmond classmate named Robert Stanard. Mrs. Stanard was a bit of an eccentric, prone to bouts of melancholy, and gradually went insane before her death.

Poe had likely known her for only a year or so but he was instantly struck by her. Sarah Helen Whitman later wrote: "This lady, on entering the room, took [Poe's] hand and spoke some gentle and gracious words of welcome, which so penetrated the heart of the orphan boy as to depireve him of the power of speech, and, for a time, almost of consciousness itself." Poe himself wrote to Whitman that Stanard was "the first purely ideal love of my soul." To friend Marie Louise Shew (who cared for Poe's wife Virginia on her deathbed), he wrote that she was "the truest, tenderest of this world's most womanly souls, and an angelt o my forlorn and darkened nature."

After her death, Poe is said to have often visited her grave at Shockoe Hill Cemetery (where his foster-mother Frances Allan would later be laid to rest). Her death was the second instance of a woman whom he loved dying in her prime (the first, of course, being his young mother Eliza Poe when he was an infant). Though some scholars have credited Stanard's death to tuberculosis, and thus part of a long series of consumptive women in Poe's life, this is not true; the "death-like sickness" she suffered has not been identified. Still, Stanard seems to have cemented the idea that the death of a beautiful woman was the most poetical topic in the world; Poe's first poem to carry the title "To Helen" was dedicated to her.

But, really, let's call a spade a spade. This isn't head over heels love. The woman was married and far too old for him (literally twice his age). This "love" was likely little more than puppy love, a boyhood crush or, perhaps, idolatry to take the place of his missing birth mother. In fact, Poe's mother-in-law/aunt Maria Clemm later wrote, "It is true dear Eddie did love Mrs. Stannard [sic] with all the affection devotion of a son. When he was unhappy at home (which was very often the case) he went to her for sympathy, and she always consoled and comforted him." Whatever the "relationship," Poe was very affected by her death.

"To Helen" (1831)

Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfum'd sea,
The weary way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the beauty of fair Greece,
And the grandeur of old Rome.

Lo! in that little window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand!
The folded scroll within thy hand —
A Psyche from the regions which
Are Holy land!

John Allan's will

John Allan was not Poe's father. Even calling him "foster-father" is a bit generous. It seems like the more common term these days is "guardian." Sure, Allan helped raise Edgar Poe but, more than anything else, young Poe often felt more like a guest in the Allan household rather than a son.

So, in one sense, it makes sense that Allan would never fulfill the fatherly duty of providing support for his son after his death. On the other hand, Poe called Allan "Pa" for parts of 15 years. And, remember, Allan is an incredibly wealthy man — one of the richest in Richmond. Either way, when John Allan sat down on April 17, 1832 to write a draft (one of many) of his last will and testament, Edgar Poe was purposely excluded.

After Frances Allan's death, John Allan married Louisa Patterson on October 5, 1830. Patterson, now the second Mrs. Allan, was listed as "executrix" of the Allan estate in the 1832 will. In 1831, the couple's first son (of three) was born, who they named John Allan, Jr. Now with a legitimate biological heir, Allan Sr. had no reason to provide for Edgar Poe in his will.

Allan did, however, give money to the family of his first wife, specifically to Ann Moore Valentine — amounting to "three hundred dollars annually" throughout "her natural life." Though he ignored his "foster son" Edgar Poe, Allan did provide for his illegitimate children. Allan had fathered twins to a married woman named Elizabeth Wills in 1830 — he called it his "fault." He had struggled for some time with balancing his responsibility to them and concern for his social standing. In the end, he made the decision to do the right thing, and offered them one-fifth of his estate or $4000 each when they reached 21 years old — a social suicide which would be exposed after John Allan's death.

John Allan died on March 27, 1834. His widow was not too happy when she heard what was in her dead husband's will... More on that another time.