Despite the fact that many Poe researchers do believe John Howard Payne to be the father of Eliza Poe's love child, no one has sought to explore the relationship between these two literary lions! How utterly bizarre! Certainly, a fascinating book could be written about the curious relationship between Edgar Poe and his mother's lover, the talented actor and later renowned playwright and poet, John Howard Payne.

Poe was never especially close to his sister, Rosalie, except in her childhood, but he was protective of her and of his mother's reputation. Since, however, the gossip was that Eliza Poe had a serious affair with John Howard Payne, the truth of these stories may have been known by Poe in his childhood.

Just as likely though, Poe may have learned the truth from Matthew Sully, Sr., father of Thomas Sully, who had loved Eliza Poe dearly. Thomas Sully himself had a childhood crush on Eliza Poe and painted her portrait in 1803. Thomas Sully himself was already an adult and recognized portrait painter by the time of Poe's father's 'sudden disappearance,' as well as Eliza Poe's mysterious pregnancy. Since the whole Sully family were very close to Eliza Poe, it is highly likely they knew the truth about Rosalie Poe's parentage. In fact, such gossip would have made its way throughout the entire acting community in America, which was hardly extensive c. 1811.

Eliza Poe had worked in American theater since her childhood, with not only the most important actors of her time, but virtually every actor of her time. The parents of Felix Darley, John and Eleanora Westray Darley, appeared onstage with Eliza Poe. Eleanora Darley took Eliza Poe 'under his wing,' as did her sisters, the Westrays and "Mrs. Wood." They too, would have known the truth about Rosalie's parentage. The 'House of Usher' and certainly Harriet Usher, would also have known this information. The highly popular Diva of the American stage, Ellen Oldmixon, who was a very close friend of Thomas Sully, would also have heard all the stories. We know that Poe visited Oldmixon, at her Germantown, Philadelphia home, most likely with Thomas Sully, who was so devoted to her that he named one of his children after her.

But these actors and their families held their tongues about the never explained 'disappearance' of Poe's father, about Eliza's affair with Payne and about the parentage of Rosalie. Many of these actors had been Eliza's friends since childhood and surely knew the truth. But clearly, no one wanted to destroy Eliza's posthumous reputation, nor that of the three children she left behind. The Poe family certainly did not want it touted that Rosalie was not the daughter of David Poe, Jr., though we know they believed she was not the son of Poe's father, through innuendo from John Allan and gossipy stories ostensibly coming from Maria Clemm.

So, there was never an 'official story' explaining the circumstances of Rosalie's birth. Why would there have been? The situation was considered a terrible disgrace, not only to Eliza, but to her children and her husband's family. No one would have dared speak about such things in anything but a mere whisper.

The only story we have, which is most likely apocryphal, was that Edgar Poe was left a series of letters written to or from his mother, that were carefully preserved and tied together into a package for "Little Edgar." The story is that these letters told the truth about Rosalie's birth, about "what really happened to David Poe, Jr.," as well as other family secrets. There are many references to these "old love letters" in Poe biography, though if they did exist, they were most certainly destroyed by Maria Clemm after Poe's death.

If it is true that Eliza left behind explanatory letters for her dear son Edgar, then Poe indeed knew the truth of "his family's mysteries." Naturally, he never revealed anything he found out, neither from Eliza's letters, nor from Eliza's close-knit acting sorority/ fraternity.

The key point here is this: Poe must have known the truth behind Rosalie's parentage, as well as whether his father abandoned his mother or "just died of the cholera somewhere," which, incredibly, is the same 'soft story' we have, and all that we have, concerning the mysterious demise of Eliza's own mother, Elizabeth Arnold.

John Howard Payne, the most likely candidate to be Rosalie's father, was an intimate of Lord Byron; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly's; John Keat's brother, George Keats; Thomas Moore (through Lord Byron, or mutual friend Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley) as well as the top playwrights, actors, politicians and poets of the day, both in America and abroad. Payne's popularity is at its nadir right now, but his letters are now being collated, and the information contained within them will be fascinating.

Yes, the story of Poe's relationship with Payne is in need of a major overhaul.