Poe's Life in Boston

A MINIATURE PORTRAIT OF ELIZA POE
Artist unknown
Date unknown

On December 8, 1811, when Poe's 24-year-old mother Eliza died in Richmond, Virginia before he was three–during the same year his father, David, had abandoned them and is also believe to have died–she left her son a miniature portrait of herself together with a watercolor she had painted and entitled "Boston Harbour, Morning, 1808." Edgar cherished these items for the rest of his life. On the back of the watercolor (now lost) Eliza had written:

     For my little son Edgar, who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, and where his mother found her best, and most sympathetic friends.

Courtesy of The Free Library of Philadelphia