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Birth
He was born to his parents: David and Elizabeth Poe. He had a brother named Henry and a sister named Rosalle. -
mother dies
Edgar's mother dies in Richmond. His father left while he was young and he is taken in by John Allen and his family. -
College
He is registered at the University of Virginia. Mr. Allen fails to send him enough money, so he gets kicked out becuase he is in debt. He also writes his first volume of poetry "Tamberlane and Other Poems". It is very rare now and sells for as much as $200,000 -
Army
Edgar is enlisted in the United States Army. After his two year service, he is promoted as a sergeant-major. -
Southern Literary Messenger
Edgar becomes an editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, where he helped Thomas W. White. He increased the circulation from 500 to 3500 copies. He left because of a poor salary. -
Marriage
Edgar married his cousin Virginia. He was 25 and she was only 13. They had no children. -
First Narrative
He moved to New York and wrote "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym". Unfortunatley he had no financial success. -
Philadelphia
Next, Edgar moved to Philadelphia. There he wrote "Ligeia" and "The Haunted Palace". Still, he had no financial success. -
Short story
He wrote "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque". It was his first volume of short stories. He published 20 copies, but made no money. -
Editor
After leaving the Southern Literary Messenger, Edgar found himself a new job as the editor of Burton's Gentlemen's Magazine. -
Editor again
Edgar then found himself a job as editor of Graham's Magazine working two years for George R. Graham. There he wrot ehis first detective story "The Murders in the Rue Morge". He also increased the magazine's circulation from 5,000 to 35,000. He left because he wanted to start his own magazine. -
The Broadway Journal
Edgar Allan Poe then became editor of the Broadway Journal working for C.F. Briggs. There he wrote his famous poem "The Raven". He left the magazine because it ran out of money. -
Wife's Death
Edgar's wife Virginia dies, only 10 days after his birthday. It causes him to collapse from stress, but he recovers. -
Death
Edgar Allan Poe dies on this Sunday, as he was on a visit to Norfolk and Richmond. The ambulance takes him to the hospital unconcious. He is buried at West Minister Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland.