Eliza Poe

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Eliza Arnold Poe (1787-1811) was a British-born American actress and the mother of the American author Edgar Allan Poe.

Life and career
Eliza Arnold was born to Henry and Elizabeth Arnold in 1787. Her mother was a stage actress in London from 1791 to 1795. It is unknown when Henry died but, in January of 1796, only mother and daughter sailed from England to Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. Eliza debuted in Boston at the age of nine only three months after her arrival in the United States. Later that year, Elizabeth married a musician named Charles Tubbs, a man who had sailed with the Arnolds from England. The small family joined with a manager named Mr. Edgar to form a theatre troupe called Charleston Comedians. Elizabeth, Eliza's mother, died sometime while this troupe was traveling through North Carolina.

At the age of fifteen in 1802, Eliza married Charles Hopkins. Hopkins died three years later in October of 1805, possibly due to yellow fever, leaving Eliza widowed at eighteen. The Baltimore-born David Poe, Jr. saw Eliza performing in Norfolk, Virginia and decided to join her acting troupe. Poe was intended to practice law but became an actor instead. Poe married Eliza only six months after Hopkins's death in 1806.

The couple traveled throughout New England and the rest of the northeast, playing in various towns such as Richmond, Philadelphia, and an outdoor summer theater in New York City before finally settling in Boston. They stayed in Boston for three consecutive seasons of 30 weeks each in a theater that fit an audience of about one thousand. Though times were difficult to say the least, the couple produced two sons; William Henry Leonard in January of 1807 (nine months after their wedding) and Edgar in January of 1809. Eliza performed until 10 days before Edgar's birth and may have named her second son after the Mr. Edgar who led the Charleston Comedians.

The family relocated to New York in the summer of 1809. Eliza had often been praised for her acting ability while David's performances were routinely criticized harshly, possibly due to his own stage fright. David, hot-headed and an alcoholic, abandoned the stage and his family about six weeks after moving to New York. Though David's fate is unknown, there is some evidence to suggest he died in Norfolk on December 11, 1811. In his absence, Eliza gave birth to a third child, a daughter she called Rosalie, in December of 1810 and continuing traveling as she performed.

Death
In 1811 while in Richmond, Virginia for a performance, Eliza began spitting blood while staying at a boarding house. Her performances became more seldom until October of 1811 when she stopped appearing altogether.

Friends and fellow actors Mr. and Mrs. Luke Usher took care of the children during Eliza's illness and many in the Richmond area took an interest in her health. On November 29 of that year, the Richmond Theater announced a benefit performance on her behalf. A local publication, the Enquirer, reported her need for help: "On this night, Mrs. Poe, lingering on the bed of disease and surrounded by her children, asks your assistance and asks it perhaps for the last time.

Eliza finally died on Sunday morning, December 8, 1811 at the age of twenty-four. The actual cause of death is only speculation, but popular theories are pneumonia, malaria, and tuberculosis.

She is buried at St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond. Though her actual burying place is unknown, a memorial marks the general area.