16 May 2023
On This Day
16 May 2023 Cheryl

16 May 1836: Edgar Allan Poe marries Virginia Clemm

Edgar Allan Poe & his wife, Virginia Clemm Poe

When Edgar Allan Poe died in 1849, his pet cat, Cattarina, joined him in death within a few weeks. Her death is every bit as mysterious as that of her beloved owner. [1]

Shortly after his mother died in 1829, Edgar Allan Poe met his bride-to-be, Virginia Clemm. She was just 7 years old, and he was 20. The couple were first cousins, and it appears that they quickly became firm friends.

On 16 May 1836, 27-year-old Poe married 13-year-old Virginia (though her age was listed as 21). The ceremony was held in the evening at the home of Mrs James Yarrington, the owner of the boarding house where Virginia, her mother and Poe were living in Richmond, Virginia, USA. Yarrington helped bake the wedding cake and prepared a wedding meal. The couple had a short honeymoon in Petersburg, Virginia.

By most accounts, they were a happy and devoted couple, although it has been suggested by some biographers that they viewed one another more like a brother and sister. Poe once wrote to a friend, “I see no one among the living as beautiful as my little wife.” By many contemporary accounts Virginia, nearly idolised her husband. She often sat close to him while he wrote, kept his pens in order, and folded and addressed his manuscripts.

Financial struggles plagued their marriage, as Poe often found it difficult to support himself and his young wife through his writing alone. He frequently faced rejection from publishers, and they lived in poverty much of the time.

In January 1842 Virginia developed tuberculosis. Her health declined and she became an invalid, growing worse for five years until she died of the disease at the age of 24 in the family’s cottage outside New York City leaving Poe utterly devastated.

Throughout his wife’s illness, Poe cared for her with tenderness and affection. It’s said that Virginia’s declining health influenced his writing, with themes of death and loss becoming even more prominent in his work. Her death in 1847 plunged Poe into a profound despair from which he never fully recovered.

Despite his grief, Poe continued to write, producing some of his most haunting and memorable works in the years following Virginia’s death. He died at age 40 on 7 October 1849.