had married her
early to an actor named Hopkins, who died in October, 1805. Two months
after his death his widow married David Poe, who was at that time a
member of their company; and mean while her mother, Mrs. Arnold, had
bestowed her own hand upon a musician of the romantic name of Tubbs, who
soon left her a widow. Thenceforth she devoted herself to her daughter's
family, remaining with the company and occasionally appearing in some
unimportant part.

When in the summer of that year of 1811 Mr. Placide's company left
Norfolk to open a season in Richmond, Mr. David Poe was too ill with
consumption to accompany them, and his family remained in Norfolk. He
must undoubtedly have died there; for from that time in all the affairs
of his family his name is not once mentioned, nor is the remotest
allusion made to him. He was probably buried by the city in one of the
obscure suburban cemeteries. By his death the widow was left penniless,
and Mr. Placide, to whose company she still belonged, and who was
anxious to have her services in his Richmond campaign, sent one of his
employees to bring the family to Richmond at his own expense. A room and
board had been engaged for them "at the house of a milliner named Fipps
on Main street," in the low-lying district between Fifteenth and
Seventeenth streets, still known as "_Bird-in-hand_." This room was not
by any means the wretched apartment which it has been described by some
of Poe's biographers. It was not a "cellar," not even a basement room,
but one back of the shop, the family residing above, and must have been
comfortably furnished, for this neighborhood was at this time the
shopping district of the ladies of Richmond, and Mrs. Fipps was probably
a fashionable shopkeeper. Damp Mrs. Poe's room must have been, since
this locality was the lowest point in the city, where, when the river
overflowed its banks, as was frequently the case, the water would rise
to the back doors of the Main street buildings and at times flood the
ground floors. In this room Mrs. Poe contracted the malarial fever then
known as "ague-and-fever," which proved fatal to her.

Owing to her illness Mrs. Poe, though her appearance was constantly
advertised, did not appear on the stage more than a half dozen times, if
as often. Mr. Placide wrote to her husband's relatives in Baltimore in
behalf of herself and children, but received no satisfactory answer, and
the company kindly gave her a benefit performance.