![]() ![]() ![]() Biographers have claimed that the two had a kind, devoted bond, but one more like brother and sister than husband and wife. Poe and Clemm never had any children and never alluded to anything sexual in their letters. ![]() A Presbyterian minister officiated the union, and the couple honeymooned briefly in Petersburg, Virginia, on the Appomattox River. ![]() The wedding was held that spring evening at a boarding house, where the couple and Maria stayed the night. Regardless, the couple eloped in Baltimore on September 22, 1835, and made their marriage public with a ceremony in Richmond, Virginia, on May 16, 1836. Poe and Clemm decided to marry, but Maria didn’t approve of their age difference - 13 years - or Poe’s financial situation - he had just been fired from the Southern Literary Messenger for on-duty drunkenness. It’s said that the pair attended strangers’ funerals, held each other and cried. Clemm adored Poe, following him on long walks in the countryside and even delivering his love letters to a neighbor - until, that is, his affections turned to her. Her widowed mother Maria had then allowed the 20-year-old Poe, who had been orphaned in his youth and more recently discharged from the military, to stay with her family. The two first met in 1829, when Clemm was seven years old. Like so many aspects of Edgar Allan Poe’s life (including his death), the nature of his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm, is shrouded in mystery. 179 years ago today, it was OK to marry your underage first cousin - and Poe did exactly that with Virginia Eliza Clemm. ![]()
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