Edgar Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston , where his mother had been employed as an actress. Elizabeth Arnold Poe died in Richmond on December 8, 1811, and Edgar was taken into the family of John Allan, a member of the firm of Ellis and Allan, tobacco-merchants, and Poe added "Allan" to his name. At the age of 40, he died a mysterious death that still is unexplained. The Edgar Allan Poe Hackberry grows in Richmond 's Enchanted Garden which is fashioned after his poem, "To One In Paradise."