Edgar Allan Poe Timeline

1809

• Edgar Poe is born on January 19, in Boston.
• Thomas Jefferson is President of the U.S.A.
• Abraham Lincoln is born on February 12, in Kentucky.
• Charles Darwin is born on February 12, in England.

1810

• Edgar's parents separate. Elizabeth Poe takes the children.
• Beethoven composes his famous piano piece, Fur Elise.

1811

• Edgar's mother, Elizabeth dies.
• Mr. and Mrs. John Allan adopt Edgar Poe.

1812

• The war of 1812 begins.
• Charles Dickens is born on February 7, in England.

1813

• Lord Byron writes "The Giaour"

1814

• British forces burn Washington D.C. during the war of 1812.
• George Stephenson designs the first flanged-wheel locomotive.

1815

• Edgar Allan goes to school in England.
• Pirates help defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
• Napolean is defeated at Waterloo.

1816

• The year without a summer.

1817

• James Monroe becomes the 5th President of the U.S.A.
• Henry David Thoreau is born on July 12, in Massachusetts.
• Mississippi becomes the 20th State of the U.S.A. on December 10

1818

• Mary Shelley, 21, publishes "Frankenstein".

1819

• John Polidori, 24, publishes "The Vampyre".
• Herman Melville is born in NYC. He later writes "Moby Dick" in 1851.
• Walt Whitman is born on May 31, in Long Island.
• Spain gives the territory of Florida to the United States.

1820

• Edgar returns to the United States and continues his schooling.
• Florence Nightingale is born on May 12, in Italy.

1821

• Charles Baudelaire is born on April 9, in Paris.
• Fyodor Dostoevsky is born on November 11, in Moscow.

1822

• Louis Pasteur is born on December 27, in France.

1823

• Edgar attends the academy of William Burke, succeeds in athletics.

1824

• One of the most interesting presidential elections in U.S. history

1825

• John Allan inherits a fortune when his uncle dies.
• John Quincy Adams is President.

1826

• Edgar attends the University of Virginia, goes by "Edgar Poe".
• James Fenimore Cooper, 37, writes "The Last of the Mohicans".

1827

• Poe drops out of school because John Allan won't give him any money.
• Poe writes and prints his first book, "Tamerlane and other Poems".
• Poe can't support himself so he joins the United States Army.
• Ludwig Van Beethoven dies.

1828

• Edgar Poe does well in the Army, attains rank of sergeant major.
• Jules Verne is born on February 8, in France.
• Leo Tolstoy is born on September 9, in Russia.
• Construction of the first U.S. railroad, the B&O, begins.

1829

• Mrs. Allan dies, Edgar returns home.
• Poe and John Allan temporarily reconcile their differences.
• Poe applies to West Point, John Allan sponsors him.
• Andrew Jackson is President.

1830

• Emily Dickinson is born on December 10, in Massachusetts.

1831

• Poe deliberately gets kicked out of West Point.

1832

• Poe submits a number of stories to magazines. They are rejected.
• Edouard Manet is born on January 23, in France.

1833

• Poe sends a desperate letter to John Allan asking for help, and is ignored.
• Slavery is banned in Great Britain.

1834

• John Allan dies and leaves Edgar nothing in his will.
• Poe writes "Berenice".
• The Spanish Inquisition ends.
• The Postage Stamp is invented in Great Britain.

1835

• Poe wins a contest for "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle".
• Because of the contest, Poe finally gets a job.
• Mark Twain is born on November 30, in Missouri.

1836

• Edgar Poe marries his cousin Virginia in May. She is 13.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, 33, publishes his first book, "Nature".
• Battle of the Alamo.

1837

• Nathaniel Hawthorne, 33, publishes "Twice-Told Tales".
• Charles Dickens, 25, begins writing "Oliver Twist".

1838

• Poe writes "Ligeia".

1839

• Poe writes "The Fall of the House of Usher".
• "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque", Poe's first volume of short stories, is published. He receives no money from the publisher.
• Louis Daguerre invents the daguerreotype and photography is born.

1840

• Poe writes "The Man of the Crowd".
• French sculptor, Auguste Rodin is born on November 12, in Paris.
• French painter, Claude Monet is born on November 14, in Paris.

1841

• Poe writes "Eleorora".
• Poe writes "A Descent into the Maelstrom".
• Poe writes "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".
• U.S. President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, after only one month in office.
• French painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir is born on February 25.

1842

• Poe writes "The Mystery of Marie Roget".
• Poe writes "The Oval Portrait".
• Poe writes "The Pit and the Pendulum".
• Poe writes "The Tell-Tale Heart".
• Virginia Poe breaks a blood-vessel while playing the piano.

1843

• Poe writes "The Black Cat".
• Poe wins a hundred dollar prize for "The Gold Bug".
• The first major wagon train headed for the American Northwest sets out with 1,000 pioneers, on the Oregon Trail.
• Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is first published in London, England on December 19.

1844

• Poe moves back to New York City.
• Thousands were deceived by Poe's story, "The Balloon Hoax".
• Poe writes "The Purloined Letter".
• Poe writes "The Premature Burial".
• Samuel Morse sends the first electric telegram from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore.
• Friedrich Nietzsche is born on October 15, in Germany.

1845

• Poe writes "The Raven".
• Poe writes "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar".
• Poe writes "The Imp of the Perverse".
• Poe writes "Some Words with a Mummy".
• Poe was working 14 hour days but still couldn't make a living.
• Florida becomes the 27th State of the U.S.A. on March 3
• Texas becomes the 28th State of the U.S.A. on December 29

1846

• Poe writes "The Cask of Amontillado".
• Poe writes "The Philosophy of Composition".
• Poe sues another paper for libel and wins. The suit is settled for $225.00.

1847

• Poe's wife, Virginia, dies from tuberculosis on January 30.
• Thomas Edison is born on February 11, in Ohio.
• The United States issues its first postage stamps.
• Charlotte Bronte, 31, publishes "Jane Eyre".
• Emily Bronte, 29, publishes "Wuthering Heights".

1848

• Poe writes "The Poetic Principle".
• Construction of the Washington Monument begins in Washington, D.C.
• The California Gold Rush begins.
• Karl Marx writes "The Communist Manifesto".

1849

• Poe writes "Hop-Frog".
• June 30 - Poe leaves NYC and visits John Sartain in Philadelphia.
• July 13 - Poe goes to Richmond and stays at the Swan Tavern Hotel.
• Poe joins the "Sons of Temperance" in an effort to stop drinking.
• Poe lectures on "The Poetic Principle".
• Sept 27 - Poe leaves Richmond and goes back to Philadelphia.
• Sept 30 - Poe apparently gets on the wrong train and goes to Baltimore.
• Oct 3 - Poe is found half conscious and is taken to a hospital.
• Edgar Allan Poe dies on October 7, 1849.