About Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. His parents were David and Elizabeth Poe. Edgar's mother, Elizabeth Poe, died in 1811, when Edgar was 2 years old. After the death of his mother, Edgar was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan. Poe went to the University of Virginia in 1826, when he was 17. Even though his adoptive father, John Allan, had plenty of money, John didn't give Poe much. Poe was doing decently in languages, but began drinking and fell into debt, then quit school a year later. At this point, Edgar Allan Poe had no money, no college education, and had been shunned by John Allan, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1827. He was 18. He did pretty well in the Army and attained the rank of sergeant major. Afterwards, he transferred to Westpoint. Shortly after enlisting there, he got kicked out. In 1831 Poe moved to New York. He struggled for a long time, but eventually found a job as a newspaper editor. He brought Mrs. Allan and his cousin, Virginia to New York to live with him. He then married Virginia. He was 27 while she was 13. Sometime in 1840, Edgar Poe joined George R. Graham as an editor for Graham's Magazine. During the two years that Poe worked for Graham's, he published his first detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and challenged readers to send in cryptograms, which he always solved. During the time Poe was editor, the population of the magazine rose from selling 5000 to 35,000 copies. Poe left Graham's in 1842. In 1843 he published "Gold Bug", which sold roughly 300,000 copies. Poe's wife, Virginia, died in 1847, 10 days after Edgar's birthday. After losing his wife, Poe fell sick from stress but gradually returned to health later that year. Poe later passed away on Sunday, October 7, 1849.