Edgar Allan Poe to George W. Poe — July 14, 1839

Edgar Allan Poe to George W. Poe — July 14, 1839 Local manuscript reading covering all four preserved faces of Poe’s letter to George W. Poe, including the handwritten family tree, closing, postscript and postal address. Date checked directly on the manuscript: Philadelphia, July 14, 1839. Damaged and unclear passages are explicitly marked; missing words have not been silently reconstructed from modern editions. The family tree is reflowed into indented branches, and punctuation and line wrapping are normalized. Poe’s family relationships, age and autobiographical statements are presented as his claims, not independently verified genealogy or biography. No local facsimile is claimed. Reference images are private; only the new reading is public. Philadelphia — July 14. /39 My Dear Sir, Owing to my absence from Richmond for some time, I did not receive your letter until a few days ago, it having followed me from place to place, and at last caught me here. I am truly glad that you have written me & hope that the correspondence thus commenced may lead to more intimate acquaintance hereafter. It affords me great pleasure, moreover, to recognize, in one of my own name & family, those very principles of stern independence which, I trust, have always actuated my own conduct through life, and which, at all events, have reduced me from high affluence to comparative poverty — or at least to a reliance upon my own resources. Our relationship is that of second cousins. My father, David Poe Jr, was the son of David Poe Sr, who was the brother of your paternal grandfather, George Poe Sr. Your father & mine were own cousins, and playmates. My wife, who is my own cousin, is also your second cousin, being the daughter of Maria Poe, my father's sister. She is connected with you, moreover, as being the daughter of the gentleman who married your aunt Harriet. She, you will remember, was the first Mrs William Clemm — my wife's mother is the second. Neilson Poe, of the Balt. Chronicle, is my second cousin. He is the son of your father's brother, Jacob Poe. There can be no doubt, I think, that our family is originally German — as the name indicates. It is frequently met with in German works on Natural History, and a M. Poé is now living in Vienna who has much reputation as a naturalist. The name there is spelt with an accent thus, Poé, and is pronounced in two syllables, Po-a. As far back, however, as we can trace our immediate progenitors, they are Irish. John Poe, about a century ago, was a name of much note in the financial history of Ireland. He was of an ancient & noble family, and married a daughter of the British Admiral McBride — himself of very illustrious descent. From this John Poe we date. I give you a kind of table showing how we spring from him. He came to America in the fourth year of his marriage, with two children, David & George (your grandfather & mine) and settled in Nottingham Co. Pa. [Second manuscript face] Here he had eight children — making ten in all. In the table I give all the names in the order of age. [The handwritten family tree is rendered below as indented branches. Relationships, names and annotations are Poe's statements, not independently verified genealogy.] John Poe David John (dead) William (dead) David (dead) Henry (dead) Edgar Rosalie Samuel (dead) Maria [Mrs Wm Clemm] Henry Virginia (dead) Virginia (my wife) Eliza [Mrs Henry Herring, dead] Elizabeth Lewis David (dead) Henry George Emily George Jacob George Neilson [twins with Amelia] Amelia [twins with Neilson] Mosher Harriet George Your father's family Harriet [first Mrs Wm Clemm] Catharine William Josephine (Neilson's wife) Georgiana Harriet [Annotation for these five: all married except Harriet — each has 4 children.] Robert John Samuel James Jane Hester Mary