One doesn’t think of Edgar Allan Poe as a Pennsylvanian, but the Boston, Massachusetts native did live in Philadelphia from 1838-1844.

It was a time in which some observers say the six-year period was among the most productive and creative of his writing and editing career.

Always transient, Poe — his young wife Virginia, her mother Maria Climm and a cat — lived in five different Philadelphia homes, including one at 532 N. Seventh St., which still stands under a National Historic Marker. Now a National Historic Site, the home has a visitor’s log that once was topped by Poe’s own signature.

Poe’s journey to Pennsylvania and beyond was heartbreaking, and scandalous.

He was the second of three children to David Poe Jr. and Eliza Arnold. David Poe’s father served in the American Revolution and was friends with Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. But the boy, who was born and raised in Virginia, wasn’t a soldier. He studied to be an attorney but rebuffed that idea for a career in acting. According to the book “Mysteries of The Mysteries,” a biography of Poe by Mark Dawidziak, David Poe first appeared on stage Dec. 1, 1803.

English-born Eliza Arnold Hopkins was a second-generation actress, following her parents, Henry and Elizabeth Arnold. Her father would die when she was 2, and she and her mother immigrated to Boston in 1796. Starting on stage at the age of 9, Hopkins, along with her mother, toured a lot of the East Coast. Her mother apparently died in 1798, but Hopkins continued acting, including a stop at the Chestnut Street Theater near Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It’s believed that she played some 300 parts throughout her short life.

She married Charles Hopkins at 15. He only lived three years after their wedding day, and died at 20. David Poe Jr. saw Hopkins perform in Virginia and joined the troupe. She and David first performed together in “Speed the Plough” on June 30, 1804. They were married in 1806. Nine months later, William Henry Leonard Poe was born. Edgar Allan Poe, believe to be named after “Mr. Edgar,” the manager of the touring group the Charleston Comedians, was born two years later, in 1809 (although he would claim to have been born in 1811).

A year later, the couple’s third child and only daughter, Rosalie Poe was born. There is some contention as to whether Rosalie was David’s daughter or the child of a wealthy Virginia businessman named Joseph Gallego, who left her $2,000 in his will. While Hopkins was considered a terrific talent, David Poe Jr. was not. As a result of many things, including being called talentless and dull, he fell into alcoholism and abandoned his family shortly after they moved to New York.

In 1811, the family moved back to Virginia. Hopkins got sick and stopped performing in October. Newspaper reports pleaded for fundraising that would benefit the children. There are conflicting reports of whether Poe, then two years old, was at her bedside while she worsened due to tuberculosis. She died on Dec. 8, 1811, age the age of 24. While David Poe Jr.’s fate has never been confirmed, there is evidence that he died three days later at the age of 27, most likely also from tuberculosis.

All three children, abjectly orphaned, were subsequently scattered through the foster system. William lived with his grandparents, while Poe and Rosalie went to other homes. All three became poets.

Poe was fostered, but never adopted, by a childless couple, Frances and John Allan of Richmond, Va. They are believed to have offered to raise him instead of Poe’s grandparents. “Fanny” was one of the women who took care of Hopkins in her dying days. While Fanny doted after the young “Eddie,” reportedly dressing him in velvet suits and capes, and guiding him into adulthood, John did not. Described a no-nonsense, hardened Scottish merchant, John never accepted Poe as his son. They did; however, have him baptized and named themselves his godparents.

In addition, a great curiosity and excellence in his studies, it was said that Poe was a natural born leader and a good athlete. At 15 he was dared by a schoolmate to swim against the tide in the James River. It took four hours, but he swam six miles that day. There were observers who followed him in a boat. Poe made witnesses sign an affidavit verifying the feat.

Around this same time, Poe developed a crush on Jane Stith Stanard, the mother of his childhood friend Robert. At a time when few others did, Stanard encouraged Poe to write. She was plagued by depression and diagnosed as mentally unbalanced. Poe was smitten, then crestfallen when she passed away about a year later at 31.

Poe was once again crushed by the loss of a beloved woman in his life. Biographers say that the illnesses that took his mother and Stanard, as well as the abandonment by this father and aloof treatment from his foster father, led to his own troubled life.

In 1826, John Allan sent Poe to the then-new University of Virginia. Described as a “rough and tumble place” by biographers, instructor John A.G. Davis was shot and killed by a student, Joseph Green Semmes, during a student riot there.

Poe was such a great writer with an outstanding imagination and painter that his friends were unsure about whether profession was best for the artist. It’s believed that this was also when Poe first started to drink.

Poe wasn’t fully funded by Allan and had to scramble for the necessities. It’s said he smashed furniture in his apartment just to set it on fire in his apartment. As a way to come up with money to live, Poe started gambling. Instead of winning, he lost. Allan wouldn’t bail him out, and to avoid debtor’s prison, Poe joined the Army as “Edgar A. Perry” and had his first poems published. He did well during his two years in the military

Two years later, Fanny Allan passed and Poe split with John Allan for good. He now had to deal with the death of another women he adored.

Poe moved in with his Aunt Maria Clemm, his young cousin Virginia and other family members. He began to get more work in publishing and to prove himself, later moved south to edit a magazine there. He was fired for being drunk on the job.

When he got a letter from Maria, who was a seamstress who also took in borders, writing times were tough and she would have to give Virginia up for adoption, Poe responded in letter, saying he was madly in love with his first cousin.

Times were different then and Maria had Virginia join Poe. They were married when Poe was 26 or 27 and Virginia not quite 13. There has been some contradiction as some claimed their relationship was akin to that of a brother and sister. They were described as devoted, caring and a happy couple. As a writer, Poe was prolific at that time, but his work never paid well.

He worked in Philadelphia as the editor of Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine in 1839-1840 and then at Graham’s Magazine. He tried to get a job with President John Tyler’s administration but showed up drunk for the meeting and was sent home.

In 1841, “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” considered the first modern detective story, was released in Graham’s Magazine.

Shortly after, in 1842, Virginia showed the first signs “consumption” or tuberculosis. Poe started to drink heavily and left his wife to look for work in New York. Virginia would get better and get sick again.

In 1845, Poe wrote and the New York Evening Post printed “The Raven,” his most famous work. He was paid just over $300 in today’s money for the poem that would make him a household name.

Around this time, Poe was involved in a scandal involving fellow writers Frances Sargent Osgood and Elizabeth F. Ellet. He was reportedly caught writing romantic letters to each woman.

Virginia died in 1847. Like Poe’s mother, she was just 24.

Often drunk or ill, Poe spent the last years of his life traveling from job to job, city to city. He attempted to woo many women at once. Biographers say that Poe was rudderless without the love of a supportive woman. He would temporarily become engaged to two other women in the last years of his life.

On Oct. 3, 1849, Poe was found “in great distress,” disheveled and in oversized clothes that friends said didn’t belong to him. It was Election Day in Baltimore, and it’s believed by biographers that he was being used as a patsy to cast votes as other people. He died four days later at the age of 40.

Poe’s literary legacy remains as strong as ever. In October, Prime Stage Theatre in Pittsburgh showcased a work entitled, “Mr. Edgar A. Poe Presents: Tales of Mystery, Horror & Imagination!” Pittsburgh actress Jess Uhler portrayed three different Poe characters: Mrs. Smith, Madeline Usher and Lenore.

She wrote in an email, “The show was a collection of four of Poe’s tales brought to life on stage. Written by Lawrence C. Connolly, it was a unique reimagining of Poe’s tales with Poe himself stepping into some of the stories. It was a fun challenge for me to portray three different characters in this world.”