Poe's Life in Boston

PETER P. F. DEGRAND
The Boston Weekly Report of Public Sales and Arrivals
Spring 1827

After arriving in Boston, probably on board a coal vessel that had departed the port of Norfolk, Virginia on March 24, 1827, it is believed that Poe looked for literary employment, worked briefly at 65 Broad Street as a market reporter for editor Peter P. F. Degrand's newspaper, The Boston Weekly Report of Public Sales and Arrivals, and then as clerk in a wholesale merchandise house on the Boston waterfront. He may have been using the alias "Henri Le Rennet," a French version of his older brother's name, to avoid creditors from Virginia. William Henry Leonard Poe (Henry) was himself born in Boston on January 30, 1807.

Boston Public Library, Microtext and Newspapers Department