Did E. A. Poe have a wife? Lots of people at my school are big fans of his work! My friend Adam even says he's related to him! But people don't know if he was married! Some people say he married his cousin. Others say he never married. Some say that he married his cousin and had a mentally retarted child. Could you tell me the truth??

(P.S. If anyone who reads this is mentally retarted, this is not supposed to offend you in any way what so ever! If it does...I am truly sorry!!)

-- Anonymous, March 25, 2002

Answers

hey. you had a really interesting question, and i knew that i could answer it because i've been a really big Edgar Allan Poe fanatic for a while. the answer to your question is, yes. Poe did marry his cousin who was barley 14 years old. but she later died, and in 1849, (the same year he died), he married again to a villiage girl that he feel in love with. but, no. he didn't ever have a mentally retarded child. infact....he never even had any kids. i hope that this will help out you and your friends. bye. *jackie* p.s. i think that it would be really interesting to know somebody that is or was related to Poe.

-- Anonymous, March 25, 2002

Savhanna,

It is true that Edgar Allan Poe was married to his first cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm, the daughter of Maria Poe Clemm and William Clemm, Jr. Maria was Poe's Aunt, his father's sister. On the day they were married, May 16, 1836, in Richmond, Virginia, Edgar Poe was 27 years old and Virginia was 13 years. Your friend Adam, if related, is not and cannot be a descendant of this family. Neither Edgar, his older brother, William Henry Leonard nor his younger sister, Rosalie were ever known to have had any children. William Henry died in Baltimore at the age of 24 and while Rosalie lived until 1874, she never married and never had any children. Any possibility of a direct relationship to the family of Eliza Arnold Hopkins Poe and David Poe, Jr., Edgar's parents, died with Rosalie.

Since Edgar and Virginia never had offspring, the question of a mentally handicapped child from this union becomes moot. However, there has been some indications from contemporary observers that Rosalie demonstrated some signs of being mentally challenged.

Edgar Poe never remarried but was engaged to be married (twice) before his death in October of 1849. His first engagement to Sarah Helen Whitman was broken off in December of 1848 when he was found to have broken his pledge of temperance. Some speculate that he started drinking intentionally to force the break. His second engagement was to his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton during a lecture tour to Richmond, Virginia in June/July 1849. It has been said that the wedding date had been set for October 17, 1849 and Poe was to travel to Philadelphia on business and then on to New York to bring his Aunt Maria Clemm back to Richmond for the wedding. Poe left Richmond on September 27, 1849 and arrived in Baltimore the next day. He died on October 7, 1849..

Regards,

-- Anonymous, March 26, 2002

i am positive that he had a wife it was her cousin and her name was Lorena there are some songs about her and the last story/poem that he ever wrote waas supposed to be about how he was lonely without her they never had any children his marriage was only because he wanted a companion and he was never really in love with her and no one is really sure if she was in love with him or even if she knew what love was her mother told her to marry him when he asked and like an obedient girl she did what her mother told her to do so i hope that that clears up what u hav been thinking bye!

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Edagr Allan POE... did have a wife and he married his cousin when he was 26 and she wasn`t even 14 yet. Her name was Virginia and she died in 1847.. TWO years b4 Poe died!

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2002

This is confusing. Most of you have different answers :)

Most websites say that Poe's wife was his cousin, Virginia something something.

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2002

kiss my azz

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2003

ok, lets see , poe was married , but only once, to his cousin virginia clem, he was however engaged before that to elmira shelton, but when he left for west point she married someone else, after virginia died of consumption (t/b) he was engaged, but she called the weding off cuz he broke his promise to her that he wouldn't drink again, and as for the mentaly handicaped child, he never had any kids, but he did have a little sister, and she was said to be mentaly stunted. i hope i've helped w- your question

-- Anonymous, March 16, 2003

yes Poe did have a wife. He got married to his cousin Virginia. She was very young when they got married....i think about 13 or 14. POe was like 26 or 27. Anywayz, shhe died later of an illness some people are unsure of today. Some think it was tuberculosis. She was only 25 i believe....:o/. Poe never remarried but he did have several unsuccessful love affairs. He died about three years later....some say due to alcohol consumption, others say a broken heart from Virginia's death.

-- Anonymous, March 26, 2003

yes, poe did have a wife her name was Virginia and she was 13, she was also his cousin and he was krazy, he killed a man in a book and he killed him because of his eye, well g2g bye

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2003

fuck you your all crack addicts

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2003

Yes Edgar Allan Poe did marry his cousin Virginia Clemm, and they had 5 children all of which died within a week so they where never really mentioned, this happened because marrying your cousin is wrong and leads to bad children.

-- Anonymous, May 26, 2003

Edgar Allan Poe / Was very fond of roe / He always liked to chew some / When writing something gruesome.

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2003

can anyone tell me if lenore represents virginia in the poem the raven and lenore

-- Anonymous, December 17, 2003

poe was a weirdo that killed someone cos of a eye in a book and also he was jus a nut!also wrong in the head for marrying his cosin!sick :(

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2004

POE HAD A WIFE, END OF STORY.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2004

Poe never killed anyone. He was married to Virignia in May of 1836. It is true that he was his cousin, but you also need to take into consideration that fact that it was common for people to marry their cousins, and also common for girls to be married at young ages. He had no living children, and was engaged before to Sarah Elmira Royster. Many marriages then were made of cousins, and not many of which had trouble having children, some even 7 or 8. Their having no children can't be rightly attributed to they're relation. Elmira later was marries and was Mrs. Shelton. Poe's cause of death is unknown, and there are many speculations, even today. The Tell Tale Heart was not about POE killing someone but an insane man who was put into an asyllum.

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2004

There is an actor, Edgar Allan Poe IV, who has played Egar Allan Poe in movies and on TV. He is said to be a descendant. Does anyone know how this is possible?

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2004

Er..wow... I'm just trying to do a report on E.A. Poe and I get all these twatfaced answers from a bunch of "crackheads" who can't spell. -smirks- Eh... back to writing.

-poofs-

Ambre

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2004

Yes. But he always had time for the lads

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2004

all of youse are gay as and that person who put that pic is a real faggot bcoz it was grose and he did have a fucking wife who was his cousin and 13 yrs of age and her name was Virginia so everyone else fuck off if ur gonna contribute coz i have spoken fuck youz all

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2004

I think Edgar ALlan Poe did marry to his cousin Virginia.But i really like the story the Tell Tale Heart.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2004

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrr mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooossssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

-- Anonymous, December 16, 2004