Beginning of Essay
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and in his many restless moves, lived in half a dozen Eastern cities. His true home was always in the "misty mid region of Weir" of his own fertile and troubled imagination. His father was ....

Middle of Essay
.... visit of charity that Mrs. Frances Allan, the wife of a rising merchant in Richmond, learned of the plight of the Poe babies. She had no children of her own and so was the more attracted to handsome little Edgar. She took him home with her, and another family took Rosalie. This was in 1811, long before Juvenile Courts and official custody of orphaned children. Mrs. Allan would have liked to adopt Edgar, but her husband was unwilling to commit himself to a step of such permanence. The acting profession was despised at that time and even considered immoral. John Allan could not help regarding the little son of actor parents as a questionable pe ....