Stephen Poe Jr. (1759 - 1843)

Born 1759 in North Carolina

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Unknown — married 1775 in Randolph County, North Carolina

Descendants

Died 28 Jul 1843 at about age 84 in Benton County, Alabama, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Debi Perry [send private message] and Joanna Poe [send private message]

Biography

Stephen was born in 1759, probably either in Virginia or North Carolina. His parentage is uncertain. It is possible that he was a grandson of William Poe of Culpeper County, Virginia, although the list of his sons is not certain, and the assignments of his grandsons to his sons even moreso.

He married Mary _____ in Randolph County, North Carolina, reportedly in 1775, and they reportedly lived in Wilkes County the following year when he enlisted.

He died in 1843 in Benton County, Alabama (now Calhoun County).

Pension letter transcript: r8295 Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters Pension application of Stephen Poe R8295 Mary Poe f8NC State of Alabama Benton County (Name subsequently changed to Calhoun County) On this first day of August 1843 personally appeared before E T Smith Judge of the County Court of Benton County Mary Poe a resident of the County of Benton and State aforesaid aged eighty-four years who being duly sworn according to law doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the Act of Congress passed July 7th 1838 entitled An Act granting half pay and pensions to certain Widows. That she is the widow of Steven Poe [sic] who was a Militia soldier of the revolutionary war. He served under the command of Colonel Golston [Charles Gholson or Goldston] of the State of North Carolina and that he served under the command of said Officer two years as a militia Soldier and did receive a discharge which by misfortune was lost. He entered the service in the latter part of the summer or first of the fall in the year '76 and while in the Army he was at Wilmington and marched through that country under Major Nauls [John Nall] and was captured by the Enemy — he lived in Wilkes County North Carolina when he entered the service and was a volunteer under the command of the above named officers as well as I can recollect and he was in the battle at Lindley's Mills [September 13, 1781] North Carolina and I cannot point to any documentary evidence in the matter and he has ever been held and reputed and known as a Revolutionary Soldier and he was discharged in the fall the year 1778. She further declares that she was married to the said Stephen Poe in the latter part of the summer 1775 and I cannot recollect the exact day of the month as I have no record for we was married by Reverend William Teague not by license but by publication in Randolph County North Carolina that her husband the aforesaid Stephen Poe died on the 28th of July 1843 that she was married to him before his entering the service and at the time above stated. And he was known and reputed generally as a soldier. Sworn to and subscribed on the day and year above written before S/ E. T. Smith, Judge of the County Court of Benton County S/ Mary Poe, X her mark [Aaron Haygood, a clergyman, and Henry B. Watkins gave the standard supporting affidavit.] [Transcribed by Will Graves 9/11/09]^[1]

Probate

An abstract of a petition to the Orphan's Court of Benton dated 9 November 1846 made by James W. Poe, administrator of the estate of Stephen Poe decd. who died intestate:^[2]

deceased died seized of land: west half of the N East quarter of Section 28 township in the Coosa Land District; the value was insufficient to cover his debts, that his [estate was?] at his death eighty acres of land with improvement adjoining lands of Reuben Lawson; the petitioner requests sale of land

[the petitioner lists the heirs of the estate, but the names are such a mess, written in lines with other text interspersed between, that it is hard to understand what the petitioner is saying about said heirs — perhaps that he has their support]

named heirs, as can be read: Enoch Brady of Georgia & Lydia his wife late Lydia Poe, James Dowdy and Sarah his wife late Sarah Dowdy [sic], William Smith of [Tennessee?] and wife Mary Smith late Mary Poe, James Smith of Georgia & Elizabeth Smith his wife, James W. Poe, Samuel Poe of Georgia, Stephen Poe, Jacob Holland of [Tennessee?] and Nancy his wife late Nancy Poe , Daniel Sutherland of Georgia & Jane Sutherland his wife late Jane Poe, and John Poe

An newspaper announcement of the same petition lays out the heirs more clearly, and includes also Stephen's daughter Rebecca:^[3]

• Enoch Brady and Lydia his wife, late Lydia Poe now decd.
• James Smith and his wife Elizabeth, late Elizabeth Poe
• Daniel Sutherland and Jane his wife, late Jane Poe
• Samuel Poe, all of the above resident of Georgia
• William Smith and Mary Smith his wife, late Mary Poe decd.
• Jacob Holland and Nancy his wife, late Nancy Poe
• Samuel Poe, the last three lines residing in Tennessee
• John Poe
• Stephen Poe
• James W. Poe
• James Dowdy and Sarah his wife, late Sarah Poe
• William Andrews and his wife Rebecca Andrews, late Rebecca Poe, the last five residing in Alabama

The main problem with this article is that it lists Samuel Poe twice, stating that he resided in Georgia and then that it was Tennessee. Comparing with the original petition, it seems the inclusion of him a second time in the Tennessee group was a mistake. Otherwise, the information corroborates and expands upon the information in the petition.

Research Notes

Y-chromosome testing indicates that Stephen was probably not a descendant of Simon Poe, as many online trees claim. The STR-marker DYS-458 is measured as 16 short tandem repeats in known descendants of Simon Poe Sr., and 15 in all others, so seems to be an identifying marker for Simon's descendants. Descendants of Stephen have 15 repeats on DYS-458.

Because his Revolutionary War pension application states that he was in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1776, it is plausible that he was close kin to Henry W. Poe. Henry's Revoluationar War pension application states that he was born in 1758 in Culpeper County, Virginia and was living in Wilkes County at the time he enlisted. Henry is thought to be a son of William Poe Jr., son of William and Lydia Poe, the probable progenitors of eighteenth-century Poes in Culpeper County. (Henry may have been named for William's father-in-law Henry Bray). Henry was likely at least a grandson of William and Lydia Poe. Also in Wilkes County tax lists after the Revolutionary War were a William Poe and a John Poe, and these were probably the names of William and Lydia's eldest sons.

So the best candidates to be Stephen's father, based on the information in his pension application paralleling that of Henry W. Poe's, are William Poe or John Poe, sons of William and Lydia Poe. But these guesses are extremely tenuous. Perhaps targeted SNP-testing (an addition to the DNA testing above) could resolve this question.

Sources

1. ↑ Stephen Poe’s Pension Application; https://revwarapps.org/r8295.pdf
2. ↑ Calhoun County, Alabama 1832–1947 box 8 folder 18 [FHL film #2,209,085], digital image on FamilySearch.org
3. ↑ Jacksonville Republic (Jacksonville, AL) for 2 December 1846, page 3

• 1820 United States Federal Census
• 1830 United States Federal Census
• 1840 United States Federal Census
• American Revolutionary War Rejected Pensions
• U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Brenda Roth for creating WikiTree profile Poe-849 through the import of Jones Family Tree.ged on Jun 13, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Brenda and others.
• Thank you to Deb Perry for creating WikiTree profile Poe-598 through the import of Lindsay wikitree 2013-01-19.ged on Jan 19, 2013.