(Born: March 12, 1790 - Died: February 16, 1871)

Poe's aunt and, after he married his cousin Virginia,  his mother-in-law. Poe called her "Muddy." Although there is some debate as to whether or not she was a positive influence on Edgar, there seems no doubt that she cared for him like a son and that Poe certainly thought of her as a mother. The poem "To My Mother" (first published July 7, 1849) is clearly dedicated to her. In 1844, she apparently sold a bound volume of the Southern Literary Messenger Poe had borrowed from William Duane. Duane eventually managed to buy the book back through a series of deals, with his own signature still on the title page. Poe, however, continued to insist that Mrs. Clemm had returned it and his refusal to apologize to Duane caused a permanent rift in the friendship. Despite such difficulties, Sarah Helen Whitman recalled that "Poe always spoke of her with grateful and affectionate consideration. I believe that she loved him devotedly" (Ticknor, Poe's Helen, p. 171).  She married William Clemm, Jr on July 13, 1817, becoming his second wife. William Clemm died on February 8, 1826. They had three children: Henry (born September 10, 1818), Virginia Marie (born August 22, 1820) and Virginia Eliza (born August 13, 1822). Virginia Marie died in infancy, only a few months after the birth of Virginia Eliza, who ultimately become Poe's wife.

Mrs. Shew, in 1875, described her as "You see she [Mrs. Richmond] speaks bitterly of Mrs. Clemm, who was like a cat, often, treacherous and cruel. She had a hard side to her nature like many Southern persons, who are, or have been brought up with slaves as servants and associates in childhood." (Mrs. Shew to J. H. Ingram, March 28, 1875).

After Poe's death in October of 1849, Mrs. Clemm was left without any source of income. She survived largely from the generosity of Poe's friends and admirers. Among those who sent her small sums were Henry W. Longfellow and Charles Dickens.

She claimed that she had burned hundreds of letters written to Poe by various literary women. Griswold had apparently offered her $500 for the letters of Frances S. Osgood. She did this act to avoid any possibility that "by poverty [I might] be induced to do anything so dishonorable" (Maria Clemm to Neilson Poe, Aug. 26, 1861).

This photograph, one of the only two known, is from a daguerreotype originally owned by Annie Richmond and sent to John H. Ingram in 1876. It was probably taken around 1849. The second, reprinted in E. L Didier's The Poe Cult and Other Papers, shows her in 1868, considerably more aged but wearing a remarkably similar dress..