Virginia Clemm was born in 1822 to William Clemm Jr., a poor hardware merchant, and Maria Poe. Her parents’ family had opposed their marriage and gave the couple very little financial support. When her father died in 1826 Maria began to sew and rent their house to attempt to support the family. She didn’t meet Edgar Allan Poe until August 1829. The two were first cousins, and Poe had just been discharged from the army. She was seven years old, he twenty. In 1835, after moving to Richmond, VA, Poe became romantically interested in Clemm and the two married. She was 13, he 27. Poe took charge of her education himself. She excelled in piano and singing, and had a beautiful voice. Though the age difference was enormous, Poe’s biographers describe how he “did not need women the way normal men needed them” and never took an interest in women sexually. They did not share a bed until Virginia turned 16.
In 1842, Virginia began to show signs of having contracted tuberculosis, a disease which had already taken several of Poe’s loved ones from him, by coughing up blood. After a series of moves, Poe brought the family to the cottage in Fordham, hoping that the clean country air would help Virginia’s developing illness. By November of the same year, however, it became clear that Virginia would not make it. Her symptoms included irregular appetite, flushed cheeks, unstable pulse, night sweats, high fever, sudden chills, shortness of breath, chest pains, coughing and spitting up blood. Despite his busy schedule, Poe remained diligent in providing for his wife and spending as much time with her as he could. He loved her a lot despite his many infidelities and personal problems. Virginia died o January 30, 1847, at age 24. Poe would reportedly spend hours at her grave every day, crying and fixing it up with flowers and greenery.
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