1809
Edgar Poe born in Boston to actors David and Eliza Poe, 19 January | 1809
Abraham Lincoln born

Alfred Tennyson born

JAMES MADISON
President (1809–17) 1810
Frédéric Chopin born

P. T. Barnum born | 1811
Eliza Poe, on theatrical tour, dies in Richmond, 8 December

Edgar is taken in by John and Frances Allan | 1811
Richmond Theater burns; Gilbert Hunt, a slave, saves a dozen lives, 26 December

Harriet Beecher Stowe born1812
War of 1812 (1812–15)
Charles Dickens born1814
“The Star Spangled Banner” composed | 1815 | 1815
In England with the Allans (1815–20)

Attends school in London and suburban Stoke-Newington | 1815
Napoleon defeated at Waterloo1817
Henry David Thoreau born

William Wirt, Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry

JAMES MONROE
President (1817–25)1819
University of Virginia founded

Washington Irving, The Sketch Book (1819–20)

Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

Herman Melville born

Walt Whitman born | 1821
Continues schooling in Richmond (1821–25)

Shows aptitude for Latin, poetry, acting and swimming | 1822
Liberia established by the American Colonization Society1823
Monroe Doctrine1824
Lafayette tours the U.S.

Lord Byron dies | 1825 | 1825
Secretly engaged to Sarah Elmira Royster | 1825
Erie Canal opens

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
President (1825–29) | 1826
Student at the University of Virginia

Excels in ancient and modern languages

Incurs gambling debts | 1826
Thomas Jefferson dies

James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans | 1827
Quarrels with John Allan

Leaves for Boston

Enlists in U.S. Army as “Edgar A. Perry”

Publishes Tamerlane and Other Poems in Boston | 1827
Ludwig van Beethoven dies1828
Jules Verne born
Construction begins on Baltimore & Ohio, first American railroad | 1829 | 1829
Frances Allan dies, 28 February

Poe transferred to Fortress Monroe, Virginia

Promoted to Sergeant Major

Discharged from the army in March
Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems | 1829
ANDREW JACKSON
President (1829–37)1830
Godey’s Lady’s Book begins publication

Emily Dickinson born | 1831
Expelled from West Point in February

Lives in Baltimore with aunt, Maria Clemm, and her daughter, Virginia
Poems: Second Edition contains “To Helen” | 1831
Nat Turner’s Insurrection1832
Virginia General Assembly defeats abolition bill

John Pendleton Kennedy, Swallow Barn | 1833
“MS. Found in a Bottle” (short story) wins literary prize; is published in Baltimore Saturday Visitor,
19 October | 1833
Knickerbocker magazine begins publication

Edwin Booth born | 1834 | 1834
John Allan dies, 27 March | 1834
Southern Literary Messenger begins publication

Cyrus McCormick’s reaper

James Abbot McNeill Whistler born | 1835
“Hans Pfaal” (first modern science fiction story) published in Richmond’s Southern Literary Messenger, March issue

Moves to Richmond in mid-summer to join Messenger editorial staff

Courts cousin, Virginia Clemm
Brings Virginia and her mother to Richmond | 1835
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Georgia Scenes

William Gilmore Simms, The Yemassee

Samuel L. Clemens born

John Marshall dies | 1836 | 1836
Marries Virginia Clemm (age 13) in Richmond, 16 May

Increases Messenger circulation | 1836
Battle of the Alamo

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature

William Holmes McGuffey, first Eclectic Reader | 1837
Resigns from Messenger

Moves to New York, January | 1837
Victoria becomes Queen of England

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Twice-Told Tales

Baltimore Sun begins publication

MARTIN VAN BUREN
President (1837–41) | 1838
Moves to Philadelphia

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (novel) | 1838
Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America translated into English | 1839 | 1839
Becomes assistant editor of Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine in June

The Conchologist’s