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Poe's Scottish Connections
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Searching For Poe In Scotland
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In the above photo, Brill is seen in his own "Poe Shrine," with copies of illustrations of "Edgar Allan Poe's women."
Little is known of any women connected to Poe outside of those mentioned in Hervey Allen's book, Israfel. Elizabeth Galt, John Allan's sister, lived in the old Flowerbank Estate of this ancient family of Galloway, Scotland.
On our first trip to Flowerbank, now a B & B, we learned the irony that a Galt descendant is married to the present owners' son, but nothing more. I learned in 2005 that the family have since sold the business and moved.
For additional information and photographs of these discoveries, see our page, "The Galloway Connection." This photo of Brill's own, former "Poe Shrine" was taken about 1998, and long ago removed from the condo in Pacifica that was sold to begin the move to Hawaii, and then Asia. The visitor can at least sense the devotion to the memory of Edgar Allan Poe that those who think have of Poe and his works. Just as believers in the western God Jews, Christians, Muslims), as well as Buddhists, have dedicated shrines in their homes of ancestors and Lord Buddha, I have since maintained a home shrine to Ameda Buddha and Poe in every one of my homes.
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The photograph above was taken during our first visit to the top of the hill of Dundonald, upon which Gaels and Scots have been building for at least 1,600 years. The site was first an ancient point of observation and residence of primitive peoples. Over the centuries, it emerged as a stone castle of the first Steward of Northern Britain, during the time of the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, 1066 A.D. Additional comments, below, of this venue and site where Poe is known to have visited have become "fact" delivered in a presentation to the Dundonald Historical Society.
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It is a paradox that the site of the first of the Allan-Burns-Galt-Poe families should exist under the majestic crown of the origin of the Stewart kings' of Scotland dynasty, and ultimately, Great Britain. It was William, Duke of Normandy, who installed his first "Steward" of his North Britain conquest at the place, now but a ruined castle called Dundonald, in Gaelic, or Hill of Donald. The Clan Donald are still one of the dominant of the Highland Clans who fought for Bonnie Prince Charlie in '45, as did Lord Kilmarnock, of the House of Boyd, all with dreadful results. The east wall of the castle is seen to the right, with the parish church in the middle of the clump of trees below. Allan, Burns, Galt, and Poe all attended this kirk.
The last Stuart was a Queen, Anne, daughter of William of Orange, and his reign was soon over. The end of Anne's reign brought six hundred years of Stewart Kings and Queens of Scotland to a close. At the beginning of the Allan-Burns-Galt-Poe emergence upon the literary history of Scotland, the House of Hanover had quashed the last gurglings of anything Scottish. Her culture and language fairly disappeared into the new language, called English. Knowledge of this hegemony is crucial to an understanding of Edgar Allan Poe's hiding his Scottish ancestry.
In our text we have raised the issues of why not only did Edgar Allan Poe not want anyone to know of his Scottish ancestry, but why do the Poes in America adamantly deny any possibility of a Scottish heritage? Aside from our discussion in the text of these paradoxes, Brill has published comments upon these questions in The Ulster-Scot newspaper, Belfast, Ireland. Scots in Ulster, Northern Ireland, have never regarded themselves as "Irish," but like Chinese and Jewish immigrants the world over, Scots proudly retain a claim to their cultural and racial identity, regardless of the country in which they live and die.
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As time and money allowed, we returned to people and places we thought could add to what we had already seen and learned of Ayrshire that had a connection to Edgar Allan Poe. We had met Bobby Kirk, seen with Brill, above, during one of our visits. He was the Archivist (person who keeps the records of the church)at the Dundonald Parish Kirk. During our first meeting he never mentioned that he had some special knowledge about people and relics which might have a connection to Poe. On this last visit with Bobby, as he liked to be called, he took us to the "Ballast Bank," so called because it was the place where rocks are loaded into the ships that navigate the ferry trade to Ireland, and allow balance of the boat when her cargo bays are empty. That was at Troon.
Seen in the photo is the headstone of James Allan. I confess it was simply too cold to spend more time looking at the other headstones of Poe-related grave sites. Nevertheless, when we went back to the church building, Bobby asked if I would like to see something given to the church by Poe's relatives? It was otherwise unknown to the church minister, the congregation, and everyone but Bobby. It was the Holy Communion Pewter Set given to the church by John Galt, on the return of his own relative, John Allan, after the War of 1812. But for this visit to see Bobby and his wonderful wife, Inez, the set would have been discarded, in favor of a new, modern, Silver Set, and the relic and its connection with Poe in Dundonald lost forever!
No one else in our circle of Poe scholars even regard the items as memorable. The photograph is damaged because of the new x-ray equipment required since the Muslims' bombing of the Twin Towers in New York City, on September 11th, and our passing through gates at Heathrow Air Port to get into airplanes. Nevertheless, at least I have it! In November of 2008 we received a Christmas card from Inez, who manages to keep a cheerful disposition since Bobby past away years ago. She still lives in the Ploughlands of Dundonald, if ever you want to visit this person of Ayrshire history. Contact the new Archivists of Dundonald Parish Church first, however.
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