The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-01-08
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOOtrtlstr.
SATERDA y, January s.
The Poet Edgar Allan Poe.
SKETCH or HIS LIEE AND wRIrINCs-NEw FACTS or
HIS HISTORY.

Edgar Allan Poe, 4 monumen to whose mem
Org was unveiled at Baltimore recently,
though, it is believed, not actually born in that
city, was the descendant Of 4 family long settled
there, and is therefore generally regarded as q
BaltinOrean. He was born, it is supposed, IN
Boston, January 1909, and he died in Baltimore
October I, lS49, aged 40 years. His ancestors
emigrated from the north of ireland about the
year l745, settling near Lancaster, Pennsyl-
vaniG, where they purchased Z farm. Before the
revolutionary war they removed TO Cecil county,
Maryland, where Mr.. David Poe, the grandfather
of the poet, and a great uncle Of Mr.. Nelson
Poe, Of Baltimore, married Miss Cairnes.
Before the revolution Mr.. David Poe and his
family removed to Baltimore, where he went into
mercantile business. During the revolution Mr..
David Poe became a deputy quarter master Of
the Maryland line, and is called in some or the
older chronicles Major, and sometimes General
Poe, he occupied for his quartermaster's Office u
part Of the building owned by him at the time,
ia which Armstrong, Gator & Co. now have their
store, on Baltimore street. 1t was at this Office
that he received General Lafayette, Count Roch-
ambeau, Count DeGrasse and other prominent
French officers, when the troops of our reyolu-
tionary ally were in this vicinity. Long after
the French had departed cuirasses of metal and
bridle-bits of lignumvite wood were found in the
cellars Of the building, souvenirs of the war.
In this connection 1t may be interesting, as q
scrap of history connected with the Poe family,
to state that Niles Register, Oct. %, 1924, re-
cording the visit Of the nations guest, Gen.
Lafayette, to Baltimore, presents the following
90 grateful remembrance - - After an introduce
ton of the surviving officers and soldiers of the
revolution who resided in and near Baltimore to
General Lafayette, he observed to one of the
gentlemen near, i have not seen among these
my friendly and patriotic commissary, Mr.. David
Poe, who resided in Baltimore when | was here,
and out of his own very limited means supplied
me with $500 to aid in clothing nv troops, and
Uhoca uiGo with hnr OuO hands p,t ont k00
pairs of pantaloons and superintendent the max
ing of them for the use of my men, The Cen
eral was informed that Mr.. Poe was then dead,
but his widow was was still living. He expressed
an anxious wish to see her." The Register then
goes on to state that when the good old lady
heard the intelligence she shed tears of joy, and
the next day visited the general, by whom she
was affectionately received, &c. This however,
is an error, as Mrs. Poe was, by her infirmities,
unable to leave her house, in the western portion
of Baltimore, and General Lafayette, escorted by
a company of horse, visited her, and spoke in
grateful terms of the friendly assistance he had
received from her and her husband. "Your
husband,'' said he, pressing his hand on his
breast, " was my friend, and the aid | received
from you both was beneficial to me and my
troops"
Tie poets father was David Poe, jr., son of
the deputy quartermaster of revolutionary mem
DRY. His mother was Mrs. Hopkins, an actress,
an English woman by birth, whose maiden name
WAS EllZdDtGl AElOlus DufAu rue duODISu his
wife's profession and went on the stage. They
both died in 1915, within a few weeks of each
other, at Richmond, Va, leaving unprovided for
three children-Henry, Edgar and Resale.
Many authorities designate Baltimore as the
place of nativity of Edgar, but it is very difficult
to determine the fact. On the death of his
parents Edgar, when he was an infant, was
adopted by Mr.. John Allan, a rich and childless
citizen Of Richmond, whose wife became passion
ately attached to the beautiful and attractive
child. 1t was mainly her love for the boy that
led to his adoption by Mr.. Allan, who gave him
every opportunity for education. He was placed
at school in England with the Rev. DIR. Bransby.
Afterwards he was sent to the University of Viz
ginia, where among his classmates were st.
George W. Teackle, the late Judge Il. Collins
Lee, and Hon. r. NJ. L. Hunter, Of Virginia.
On account of some Irregularities he left the
University. His classmates have denied that his
courses were dlssolute while there. He was
afterwards sent as q cadet to West Point, but he
was untitled for the discipline of a military
| school, and did not remain long. Mrs. Allan,
his steadlast friend, having died, and Mr.. Allan
having married a lady much younger than him.
self, there was Il disagreement with Edgar, the
result Of which was that young Poe left the
house and threw himself on his own resources,
having at school and on various other occasions
displayed remarkable fertility of genius and pre-
cocious readiness with the pen. The scandal
growing out of his abrupt severance of the con-
nection with Mr.. Adams family, is known to
most readers of his works through the agency of
G~riswold, one of his first biographers.
It is believed that this story had no other
foundation than a disagreement with the new
wife of his adopted father, which may have re-
suited in Poe's expulsion from the house as a
browning act of a series of distasteful acts in the
young mans hayward career. The lady, whose
maiden name was Patterson, it is understood still
lives in Richmond at this daee, and it is stated
that Edgar a. Poe never saw her but on one. Oc-
poaiOn after her marrInOp with Mr. Allan opd
that was on the occasion of their disagreement.
1t has been stated that Immediately after this Oc-
currence Poe went abroad with the view of en-
barking his fortunes with those of Greece, then
struggling for independence, and that he was
found in 4 destitute condition in St. Petersburg,
Russia, from whence he was sent back home by
the American Minister. This is another mis-
take. Poe's brother was in this case COMPOUNDED
with the poet. The brother had been engaged in
mercantile pursuits, and was regarded by some
members OF the family as possessing at the time
more brilliancy than Edgar. Mr.. Allan died in
1884 without mentioning POe's name in his will.
Poe then gave his attention to literature, pub
fishing in Baltimore, in 1929, his first volume of
poems, Tameriane and Al Aaraff. claiming to
have written them at sixteen years of age. In
1888 a committee, consisting of John =. Kennedy,
j.. H.. Il. Latrobe and James Ii. Miller, awarded
prizes for the best poem and story offered for the
Baltimore Saft1 day Visitor. The names of the
competitors were not known until the prizes had
been awarded, When IL was iouIu that Zoe was
the successful competitor for the story. He had
offered six tales, the Mss. Found in n Bottle
being selected. The committee stated that s. these
tales are eminently distinguished by wild, vigor-
Gus and poetic Imagination, a rich style, a fertile
invention, and a varied and curious learning
Poe was successfully editor of the Southern
Literary Messenger, at Richmond; of Burton's
GenthenGR'S Magazine, in Philadelphia, and as
sisted with Morris and Willis on the Home
Journal. lie had also other literary irons in the
fire, and soon became widely known as one Of the
most unrelenting and keenest of critics among all
American writers.
He married while in Richmond, in 1886. his
cousin, Virginia Clemm, and removed to New
York, residing in a cottage at Fordham. After