| | 1 | Author: | Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Poe Collection: Autobiographical Fragment  | | | | Published: | 1999 | | | | Description: | Memo. Born January
1811. Family one of the
oldest and most respectable in Baltimore.
Genr
David Poe, my
paternal grandfather, was a quarter-master general, in the
Maryland
line, during the Revolution, and the inti-
mate friend of Lafayette,
who, during his visit to the
U.S., called
personally upon the Gen's widow and
tendered her his warmest acknowledgements for the services
rendered him by her husband. His father, John
Poe married, in England,
Jane
a daughter of Admiral James
McBride, noted in
British naval history, and claim-
ing kindred with many of the most illustrious houses
of Great Britain.
My father and mother died within
a few years of each other, of consumption, leaving me an orphan at 2
years of age. Mr. John Allan, a
very wealthy gentleman of
Richmond Va,
took a fancy to me, and persuaded
my grandfather, Gen.
Poe, to
suffer him to adopt me. Was brought up in
Mr. A's family, and
regarded always as his son and heir—
he having no other children.
In 1816 went with Mr.
A's family to G.
Britain—visited every portion of it—
went to school for 5 years to the
Rev. Doctor
Bransby, at Stoke
Newington, then 4 miles from
London.
Returned to America in 1822. In 1825 went to the Jefferson University at
Charlottesville,
Va, where in 3
years I led a very dissipated life— the college at
that period being shamefully dissolute—
Dr Dunglison
of Philadelphia, President.
Took the first honors, however, and
came home greatly in debt. Mr. A refused
to pay some of the debts of honor and I ran
away from home
without a dollar on a Quixotic expedition to
join the
Greeks, then struggling for liberty. Failed in reaching Greece, but
made my way to St
Petersburg, in
Russia. Got into many difficulties, but was extricated
by the kindness of Mr. H. Middleton, the Am-
erican consul at
St. P. Came
home safe in 1829, found Mrs. A. dead, and immediately went to
West Point
as a Cadet. In about 18 months afterwards
Mr. A. married a second time
(a Miss Patterson,
a near rela-
tive of Gen.
Winfield Scott)—he being then 65 years of age.
Mrs. A
and myself quarrelled, and he, siding
with her, wrote me an angry letter, to which I replied in the same
spirit. Soon afterwards he died, having
had a son by Mrs.
A.
and, although leaving a vast property, bequeathed
me nothing. The army does
not suit a poor man—so I left
W. Point
abruptly, and threw myself upon
literature as a resource.
I became first known to the literary world thus. A
Baltimore weekly paper
(The Visiter) offered two premiums—
one for best prose story, one for the best poem. The Committee awarded
both to me and took occasion
to insert in the journal a card, signed by themselves, in which I was
very highly flattered. The
Committee were John P. Kennedy
(author of Horse-Shoe Robinson),
J. H. B. Latrobe, and
Dr. J. H. Miller.
Soon after this I was invited by
Mr. T. W. White proprietor of the
South. Lit. Messenger, to edit
it.
Afterwards wrote for New York Review at the invitation of
Dr Hawks
and Professor Henry, its proprietors.
Lately have written articles continuously
for two British journals whose names I am not permitted to mention.
In my engagement with Burton, it was not my
design to let my name appear— but he tricked
me into it.2 | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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