David Poe Jr. (July 18, 1784 â€" December 11, 1811 [speculative]) was
an American actor and the father of Edgar Allan Poe.Poe was born in
Baltimore, Maryland. His father, David Poe Sr., had emigrated from
Dring townland, Kildallan parish, County Cavan, Ireland to America
around the year 1750, and was well known for his patriotic
self-sacrifice as a quartermaster during the American Revolution,
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 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. One critic[who?] 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, was born in Boston,
Massachusetts on January 30, 1807, nine months after their
wedding.After the birth of their second son Edgar on January 19, 1809,
the family ran low on money. An ill-tempered alcoholic 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.
an American actor and the father of Edgar Allan Poe.Poe was born in
Baltimore, Maryland. His father, David Poe Sr., had emigrated from
Dring townland, Kildallan parish, County Cavan, Ireland to America
around the year 1750, and was well known for his patriotic
self-sacrifice as a quartermaster during the American Revolution,
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 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. One critic[who?] 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, was born in Boston,
Massachusetts on January 30, 1807, nine months after their
wedding.After the birth of their second son Edgar on January 19, 1809,
the family ran low on money. An ill-tempered alcoholic 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.
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