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Maria
"Muddy"
Clemm

1790 - 1871

Poe's Aunt
and
Mother-in-law

Muddy Clemm would become Edgar's aunt and then his mother-in-law. She would fulfill the maternal role in his life, which his own mother and two stepmothers could never achieve.

Maria Poe, the younger sister of Edgar's father David Poe Jr., was born of Irish ancestry on March 17, 1790 to David Poe Sr. (1742-1816) and his wife Elizabeth Cairnes (1756-1835). The Poe family became a prominent American family. "General" David Poe Sr. served as the Assistant Deputy Quartermaster for Baltimore during the American Revolution and used his own funds to purchase supplies for the patriot forces, winning him the friendship of Lafayette. After his death, the Maryland State government granted his widow Elizabeth an annuity of $240.

On July 13, 1817, Maria married William Clemm Jr. (1779-1826), a widower with five children and whose late wife was Maria's first cousin Harriet Poe (1785-1815). Maria had three children with William: Henry (born 1818), Virginia Sarah (1820-1822), and Virginia Eliza (1822-1847). William died on February 8, 1826, leaving Maria to care for her son Henry, her surviving daughter Virginia Eliza, her nephew and Edgar's older brother William Henry Poe (1807-1831), and her invalid mother Elizabeth Cairnes Poe.

In May 1829, after Edgar left West Point and became estranged from his foster father John Allan, he came to live with this brood in Baltimore. This provided as secure a home base as he could find while he began pursuing his literary ambitions up and down the Atlantic coast. His affection for both his Aunt Maria and his cousin Virginia increased along with his emotional dependence on them.

After the death of Elizabeth Cairnes Poe, the government annuity came to an end. By this time, Henry Clemm had gone off to sea and William Henry Poe had died of tuberculosis. Neilson Poe, Edgar's second cousin, offered to take Maria and Virginia in with his family. However, Edgar, looking for work in Richmond, wrote them a letter, pleading with them to come live with him.

Poe's letter to Maria & Virginia Clemm, August 29, 1835.

In October, they joined Edgar in Richmond where he had been rehired by the SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER. On May 16, 1836,  twenty-seven year old Edgar married his thirteen year old cousin Virginia at the Yarrington boardinghouse.

By all accounts, Edgar and his little "wifey" were deeply in love with one another. Muddy devoted herself to their welfare.

On January 20, 1842, in Philadelphia, Virginia coughed up blood while singing and playing the piano for her husband. Edgar recognized this "pulmonary hemorrhaging" as the first sign of the incurable disease tuberculosis that had killed so many of his dear ones. Edgar became devastated by his wife's increasingly fragile health and feared her imminent death. The frequently radical changes in Virginia's health tortured Edgar and drove him to use alcohol for relief. Muddy nursed them both during the five years it took for Virginia to die, soliciting publishers to purchase Edgar's work and begging literary society for their charity.

On January 30, 1847, Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe died at the Fordham cottage they had rented north of New York City. Edgar's bluestocking friend Marie Louise Shew paid for her funeral. Their landlord, John Valentine, allowed her to be buried in his family vault in the graveyard of the Old Dutch Reformed Church on February 2, 1847.

After the death of his wife, Edgar became even more dependent on the security Muddy provided as he found himself floundering in the maelstrom of fame and fortune, celebrity and notoriety.

Edgar was travelling north to retrieve Muddy for his impending marriage to his childhood sweetheart, the widow Elmira Royster Shelton in Richmond, when he died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849.

The news of Edgar's death devastated Muddy.

"I have heard this moment of the death of my dear son Edgar--I cannot believe it, and have written to you, to try and ascertain the fact and particulars--he has been at the South for the last three months, and was on his way home--the paper states he died in Baltimore yesterday--If it is true God have mercy on me, for he was the last I had to cling to and love, will you write the instant you receive this and relieve this dreadful uncertainty--My mind is prepared to hear all--conceal nothing from me"

--- Maria Clemm to Neilson Poe in Baltimore, October 9, 1849

"I have this morning heard of the death of my darling Eddie…Can you give me any circumstances or particulars…I need not ask you to notice his death and to speak well of him. I know you will. But say what an affectionate son he was tome, his poor desolate mother."

--- Maria Clemm to Nathaniel P. Willis, October 9, 1849

"Annie my Eddy is dead. He died in Baltimore yesterday. Annie, my Annie, pray for me your desolate friend. My senses will leave me. I will write the moment I hear the particulars--I have written to Baltimore--write and advise me what to do."

--- Maria Clemm to Annie Richmond in Lowell, October 9, 1849

"Oh my mother, my darling darling mother, oh what shall I say to you--how can I comfort you…oh if I could only have laid down my life for his, that he might have been spared to you--but mother it is the will of God, and we must submit, and Heaven grant us strength, to bear it…you letter has this moment reached me, but I had seen a notice of his death, a few moments previous in the paper--oh, mother, when I read it, I said, no, no it is not true my Eddie can't be dead, no it is not so I could not believe it, until I got your letter…my own heart is breaking, and I cannot offer you consolation that I would, now, but mother, I will pray for you, and for myself, that I may be able to comfort you--Mr. Richmond begs that you will come on here, soon as your can, and stay with us long as you please--Do dear mother, gather up all his papers and books, and take them and come to your own Annie."

--- Annie Richmond to Maria Clemm, October 10, 1849

"As soon as I heard that he was at the college, I went over, but his physicians did not think it advisable that I should see him, as he was very excitable--The next day I called and sent him changes of linen. And was gratified to learn that he was much better.

He died on Sunday morning, about 5 o'clock…I was never so much shocked, in my life, as when, on Sunday morning, notice was sent to me that he was dead. Mr. Herring and myself immediately took the necessary steps for his funeral, which took place on Monday afternoon at four o'clock."

--- Neilson Poe to Maria Clemm, October 11, 1849

"Having left orders with the nurses to that effect, I was summoned to his bedside so soon as consciousness supervened, and questioned him in reference to his family--place of residence--relatives &c. But his answers were incoherent and unsatisfactory. He told me, however, he had a wife in Richmond (which, I have since learned was not the fact) that he did not know when he left that city or what had become of his trunk of clothing. Wishing to rally and sustain his now fast sinking hopes I told him I hoped, that in a few days he would be able to enjoy the society of his friends here, and I would be most happy to contribute in every possible way to his ease and comfort. At this he broke out with much energy, and said the best thing his best friend could do would be to blow out his brains with a pistol--that when he beheld his degradation he was ready to sink into the earth. Shortly after giving expression to these words Mr. Poe seemed to dose and I left him for a short time. When I returned I found him in a violent delirium, resisting the efforts of two nurses to keep him in bed. This state continued until Saturday evening (he was admitted on Wednesday) when he commenced calling for one "Reynolds", which he did through the night up to three on Sunday morning. At this time a very decided change began to affect him. Having become enfeebled from exertion he became quiet and seemed to rest for a short time, then gently moving his head he said "Lord help my poor Soul" and expired!"

--- Dr. John J. Moran to Maria Clemm, November 15, 1849

The Reverend Rufus Wilmot Griswold, Poe's arch-enemy and false friend to the poet, convinced Maria that Edgar had chosen him to be the executor of his estate and acquired the copyright to his works. As compensation, Griswold gave her a few copies of his 1850 edition of Poe's collected works. She had to sell them to survive.

Maria Clemm's preface to Griswold's 1850 edition of Poe's works.

Maria Clemm lived with a succession of friends until the spring of 1863 when she gained admission to the Episcopal Church Home in Baltimore where she died on February 16, 1871.

Women: Eliza Muddy Virginia