William Fearing Gill was an author who published books chiefly pertaining to poetry and art in the 1860s-90s. He also edited compilations of stories and essays. His most notable work was The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1876. Gill was one of the first of Poe's biographers endeavoring to set the record straight after Poe's literary rival, Rufus Griswold, published a fictitious biography filled with slander after the writer's death in 1849. Gill corresponded with a number of Poe's friends and muses to compile the most accurate account of Poe's life straight from the people who knew him.
After resting in an unmarked grave for twenty six years, a grand monument was erected for Poe in the Westminster Burial Grounds in Baltimore, Maryland in 1875. Poe's remains along with his mother-in-law's were exhumed and placed under that monument. Poe's wife, Virginia Clemm, was interred in the Valentine vault at Fordham Cemetery in New York. In 1883, Gill went to the cemetery just as a portion of it was being razed. Gill stated that he arrived right when Mrs. Poe's unclaimed bones were on the sexton's shovel, about to be discarded. Gill gathered the remains and placed them in a box that he would keep under his bed for the next two years. Gill wrote to Poe's relatives in Baltimore and arranged to have Mrs. Poe's remains interred under the monument next to her husband and mother. In 1885, the remains were placed in a small bronze casket and reburied under the monument next to Poe on January 19, 1885 (the seventy-sixth anniversary of Poe's birth).
William Fearing Gill was an author who published books chiefly pertaining to poetry and art in the 1860s-90s. He also edited compilations of stories and essays. His most notable work was The Life of Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1876. Gill was one of the first of Poe's biographers endeavoring to set the record straight after Poe's literary rival, Rufus Griswold, published a fictitious biography filled with slander after the writer's death in 1849. Gill corresponded with a number of Poe's friends and muses to compile the most accurate account of Poe's life straight from the people who knew him.
After resting in an unmarked grave for twenty six years, a grand monument was erected for Poe in the Westminster Burial Grounds in Baltimore, Maryland in 1875. Poe's remains along with his mother-in-law's were exhumed and placed under that monument. Poe's wife, Virginia Clemm, was interred in the Valentine vault at Fordham Cemetery in New York. In 1883, Gill went to the cemetery just as a portion of it was being razed. Gill stated that he arrived right when Mrs. Poe's unclaimed bones were on the sexton's shovel, about to be discarded. Gill gathered the remains and placed them in a box that he would keep under his bed for the next two years. Gill wrote to Poe's relatives in Baltimore and arranged to have Mrs. Poe's remains interred under the monument next to her husband and mother. In 1885, the remains were placed in a small bronze casket and reburied under the monument next to Poe on January 19, 1885 (the seventy-sixth anniversary of Poe's birth).
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