Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19th, 1809. His mother, Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins and father David Poe Jr. were both traveling actors who both died when he was two or three years old. Some say his father just simply disappeared and others say that he died. His mother died of pneumonia. Two weeks after Elizabeth's death the theater in Richmond caught on fire killing seventy-five people. After her death she left a jewel box for Rosalie and a painting of the port of Boston for Edgar. Edgar's new painting left a note for him that said, "Love the place of his birth where I found best and most sympathetic friends." (Mankowitz 20) Poe's sister was taken to Mrs. Mackenzie after their mothers" death.
The Allan's in Richmond, Virginia adopted Poe when he was three years old. .
Poe's new father was a carrier and a shipper of mainly tobacco with his partner Charles Ellis, a former clerk. John Allan and Charles Ellis had a farm that enabled them to deal everything from wheat and hay to wines and coffee, tom even horses, pigs, and slaves. John Allan also baptized him when he was little. John Allan wanted to leave Poe back in Richmond when he and the family went to Liverpool, England. He went to school in England from 1815 to 1820.
When Poe was eleven John Allan was having an affair with a lady by the name of Ellis, which Poe lived with for a little, while when the Allan's came back to Virginia. He went to school in England from 1815 to 1820. When Poe was growing up he was very fond of black music and folk songs. When Poe was a child the "Red Death" (Mankowitz 14) haunted him. This was an illness he suffered from. Poe would also have a haunting image in his head seeing his mother die on the stage performing all the time. He also had a requiring nightmare of a dead cold hand covering his face when he was about fourteen. The hand was his mother's hand. Poe became interested in poems when he was fourteen. His first lines to a poem were "Last night with many cares and toils oppressed Weary I laid me on a couch to rest.