David Poe Jr. (July 18, 1784 – December 11, 1811 peculative was an American actor and the father of

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

Biography

Poe was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. His father, David Poe Sr., had emigrated from the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

of Dring in

Kildallan Kildallan civil parish is situated in the Barony of Tullyhunco, County Cavan, Ireland. Etymology The name of the parish derives from Kildallan townland which is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic ''Cill Dalláin'' meaning the 'Church of Dallán Forga ...

parish,

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to America around the year 1750, and was well known for his patriotic self-sacrifice as a

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, paying for supplies out of his own pocket, including $500 for clothing for the troops. Poe Sr.'s commitment had earned the respect and friendship of the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

and the honorary title of 'General'. The younger David Poe, on the other hand, defied his family's wishes to become a lawyer and became an actor instead. In 1806, David Jr. married the English-born Elizabeth "Eliza" Arnold Hopkins, whose first husband, Charles Hopkins, had died six months before. Poe was considered an inferior actor compared to his wife, possibly due to

stage fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...

. One critic said of Eliza and David, "the lady was young and pretty, and evinced talent both as a singer and actress; the gentleman was literally nothing." The couple's eldest child,

William Henry Leonard Poe William Henry Leonard Poe, often referred to as Henry Poe, (January 30, 1807 – August 1, 1831) was an American sailor, amateur poet and the older brother of Edgar Allan Poe and Rosalie Poe. After the death of their parents, the three Poe chil ...

, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 30, 1807, nine months after their wedding. Houghton Early American Playbills (13) - The Curfew 1807

After the birth of their second son Edgar on January 19, 1809, the family ran low on money. An ill-tempered

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...

for much of his adult life, David Jr. abandoned the stage and his family some time before July 1809, disappearing from historical record. In David's absence, Eliza gave birth to a daughter in December 1810, but the true paternity of Rosalie Poe remains uncertain. Edgar Allan Poe, however, clearly names Rosalie Poe as his sister and the daughter of David Poe Jr. In an 1835 letter from Edgar Allan Poe, he wrote, "My father David died in the second year of my age, and when my sister Rosalie was an infant in arms".Edgar Allan Poe letter to "Wm. Poe", August 20, 1835
/ref> According to author Susan Talley Weiss, Poe died on December 11, 1811, only three days after Eliza's death. After Eliza's death in 1811, the three children were split up. Henry lived with his paternal grandparents in Baltimore, Edgar was fostered by John and Frances Allan in Richmond, and Rosalie was adopted by William and Jane Scott Mackenzie, also in Richmond.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poe, David 1784 births 1811 deaths Poe family (United States) American people of Irish descent Male actors from Baltimore 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors