in the family

There's something else I never told them at LAP when I was applying for my master's, in case they think I'm a crazy. I think I've got a weird family connection to Poe. Almost like I was fated to fall under his spell. When my dad retired he - like most parents - got obsessed with tracing his family history (cheaper than buying a Chevy). And pretty conclusively, I'm related to this poet called Frances Osgood. (Mr Wiki also says that there was a famous Peter Osgood who played soccer in the UK, I'm not related to him. I suck at sport. I like books.) Now Fanny had married a painter Samuel Osgood, and as wiki says, the engraving was based on a portrait he did of her. And I guess I'm sprung somewhere from that union. But - as wiki says - she'd separated from him and she met Poe who - although he was also married to his sickly wife Virginia- became obsessed with her. And wrote her this riddling valentine. But he wasn't the only one interested in her. The infamous Rufus Griswold, renowned in Poe circles at least as a character assassin - check out the obituary he published under the pseudonym Ludwig. Like most, I think his enmity was spurred if not started by his rivalry for the fair hand of ... my great-great-great-grandmother (however many greats it was).