When Edgar Allan Poe was about three years old, his mother died of tuberculosis, and he was taken into the home of John and Frances Allan in Richmond, Virginia.

Edgar Allan Poe got his entire education homeschooled.

In 1826 Edgar Allan Poe attended the University of Virginia for only 11 months before gambling problems led to his leaving the school.

Edgar Allan Poe was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1830 but purposefully got himself expelled.

In 1833 Edgar Allan Poe published his first literary piece, “MS. Found in a Bottle,” and won a $50 prize from a Baltimore weekly.

In 1836 Edgar Allan Poe married his 18-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm.

Edgar Allan Poe wrote the first modern detective story with “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841.

Edgar Allan Poe spent the majority of his life living in Baltimore, Maryland.

Although he never officially remarried, Edgar Allan Poe became engaged to two different women after his wife, Virginia, died in 1847.

On October 3, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found semiconscious and wearing someone else’s clothes in a tavern in Baltimore. He was admitted to a hospital and died days later.