Edgar Allan Poe (Maryland attorney general)


Edgar Allan Poe was Attorney General of the State of Maryland from 1911 to 1915. He was born in Baltimore, the son of former Maryland Attorney General John Prentiss Poe. He was named for his second cousin, twice removed, the celebrated author Edgar Allan Poe, who died in 1849.

Early life and education

Poe attended Princeton University, where he played varsity football. He was the quarterback of the 1889 team, which finished with a perfect 10–0 record. After that season, Poe was named the quarterback of the very first 1889 College Football All-America Team. After Princeton beat Harvard, 41–15, a Harvard man reportedly asked a Princeton alumnus whether Poe was related to the great Edgar Allan Poe. According to the story, "the alumnus looked at him in astonishment and replied, 'He is the great Edgar Allan Poe.'"
Poe graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1891 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He next attended the University of Maryland School of Law, where he received a law degree in 1893.

Career

After traveling for more than a year in Europe, Poe joined his father and brothers in the family's law firm, John P. Poe & Sons. He was appointed as the Deputy State's Attorney for Baltimore in 1900, a position he held until 1903. He also served as deputy city solicitor and as city solicitor for the Baltimore City before being elected as Attorney General of the State of Maryland, a position he held from 1911 to 1915. As city solicitor, he defended an ordinance that would enshrine segregation between blacks and whites in housing.
In 1895, Poe married Annie T. McKay, and they had a son, Edgar Allan Poe, Jr. His son, who also graduated from Princeton, was severely wounded in World War I while serving as a U.S. Marine Corps second lieutenant in France.