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PREFACE-BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLI

OGRAPHY

ANCESTRY. John P. Poe, Esq., of Baltimore, states that "John Poe, the progenitor of the family in America, emigrated from the north of Ireland a number of years before the Revolution, and purchased a farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, whence he afterwards removed to Cecil County, Maryland. At the time of the Revolution he was residing at Baltimore. His wife was Jane McBride, believed to be a sister of James McBride, Admiral of the Blue, and M.P. for Plymouth in 1785."

David, the eldest son of John Poe, on the authority of his daughter, Mrs. Maria Poe Clemm, the poet's aunt and mother-in-law, was born in Ireland six weeks before the family came to America. From the time of the Revolution he lived in Baltimore, to which place he brought as a bride, a Pennsylvania girl, Elizabeth Cairnes by name. During the Revolution he became quartermaster-general of the American forces in

Baltimore.

*In the biography of Poe in Professor James A. Harrison's edition of "The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe," (T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York), from which the materials of the present article have been largely drawn.—EDITOR.

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The eldest son of General Poe was also named David. He was intended for the law, but at the age of twenty-five, in 1804, while at his uncle's home in Augusta, Ga., he joined a troupe of strolling actors known as the Hopkins Company. C. D. Hopkins, the light comedian of the company, died October, 1805, and shortly after this, David Poe married his widow, whose maiden name had been Elizabeth Arnold. She was of English birth and parentage, and had been born in mid-ocean when her mother was on the way to America.

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After their marriage, David Poe and his wife became known as the "Virginia Comedians,' and travelled up and down the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to South Carolina, giving theatrical performances. Three children were born to them at intervals of two years: William Henry Leonard, Edgar, and Rosalie.

BIRTH AND ADOPTION. On January 19, 1809, Edgar was born at Boston, Massachusetts. [Cf. title page of Poe's first book, Tamerlane, Boston, 1827, published anonymously, "By a Bostonian."]

On December 8, 1811, Elizabeth Arnold Poe died in Richmond, Va., shortly after the death of her husband, David Poe, at Norfolk, Va. Her eldest son was adopted by his grandfather, the General. He was a lad of much promise and became a cadet in the United States Navy. He died in July, 1831. Rosalie was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie, of Richmond, Va., and baptized as Rose Mackenzie. She was of eccen

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