Edgar Allan Poe to William Poe — August 20, 1835 (1903 printed witness)

Edgar Allan Poe to William Poe — August 20, 1835 (1903 printed witness) The 1903 printing preserves the closing appeal for Maria Clemm and her children, including words absent from the damaged-manuscript electronic reading. Its heading omits the date; August 20, 1835 follows scholarly catalogue RCL-093. The journal text contains historical errors and readings that differ from the manuscript, including the grandmother’s death and John Allan’s estate; these have not been silently corrected. The three printed pages are reproduced complete, with blank scan backs omitted. This is a complete copy of the 1903 printed witness, not a claim of an exact modern reconstruction of the autograph. Source: The Gulf States Historical Magazine, volume 1, January 1903, pages 281–283. The local PDF retains the source page content and embedded images unchanged. Searchable text is repository machine OCR and contains recognition errors; consult the scan for exact wording. [Printed page 281] a $7 NOTES ON THE GENEALOGY OF THE POE FAMILY.* Dear Sir: — I received your very kind and complimentary letter only a few minutes ago, and hasten to reply. I have been long aware that a connection existed between us — without knowing precisely in what manner. Your letter, however, has satisfied me that we are second cousins. I will briefly relate to you what little I have been able to ascertain, or rather to remember, in relation to our families. That I know so little on this head will not appear so singular to you when I relate the circumstances connected with my own particular history. But to return. My paternal grandfather was General David Poe of Baltimore — originally "of Ireland. I know that he had brothers — two I believe. But my knowledge extends only to one, Mr. George Poe. My grandfather married, when very young, a Miss Elizabeth Carnes of Lancaster, Pa., by whom he had five sons, viz : George, who died while an infant ; John, William, David and Samuel ; also two daughters, Maria and Elisa. Of the sons none married with the exception of David. Pie married a Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins, an English lady, by whom he had three children, Henry, myself and Ro- salie. Henry died about four years ago, and Rosalie and my- self remain. The daughters of General David Poe, Maria and Eliza, both married young. Maria married Mr. William Clem, a gentleman of some standing and some property in Baltimore. He was a widower with five children, and had after his mar- riage with Maria Poe, three others, viz : two girls and one boy, of which a girl, Virginia, and a boy, Henry, are still living. Mr. Clem died about nine years ago without any property whatever, leaving his widow desolate and unprotected, and little likely to receive protection or assistance from the relatives of her husband, most of whom were opposed to the marriage in the first instance, and whose opposition was no doubt aggra- vated by the petty quarrels occurring between Maria's child- ren and Mr. C's children by his former wife. This Maria is the one of whom you speak, and to whom I will allude again presently. .^ . Elisa, the second daughter of the General, married a Mr. Henry Herring of Baltimore, a man of unprincipled character and by whom she had several children. She is now dead, and Mr. Herring having married again, there is no communication ♦The original of this letter is in the possession of William T. Poe, Esq., of Birmingham, a grandson of the addressee, Mr. William Poe, who resided at the time of its receipt in Augusta, Ga. [Printed page 282] 282 The Gulf States