On what date did Edgar Allan Poe marry Virginia Clemm?

Edgar Allan Poe married Virginia Clemm on May 16, 1836. Their public wedding ceremony took place in Richmond, Virginia, at the boarding house where Poe, Virginia, and her mother, Maria Clemm, were staying.

The ceremony was performed by Presbyterian minister Amasa Converse. Poe was 27, while Virginia was 13; however, the marriage record listed her age as 21, apparently to avoid the need for consent from her deceased father. A witness, Thomas W. Cleland, signed an affidavit supporting the inaccurate age.

The date can be confused with September 22, 1835, when Poe filed for a marriage license, or with January 30, 1847, when Virginia died of tuberculosis. Some accounts also mention the possibility of an earlier private ceremony, but May 16, 1836, is the accepted date of the couple's documented public marriage. They remained together until Virginia's illness and death, and her suffering deeply influenced Poe's later writing.