1817–1902

Andrew Jackson Poe was born on 17 March 1817 at Crawford County, Ohio to George and Elizabeth (Roberts) Poe. Andrew was raised by Lettice Campbell, his father’s second wife, after Elizabeth passed away during his early childhood.

In 1835, at age eighteen, Andrew moved with his family to Cass County, Michigan. He left home shortly after, however, and settled at Bonaparte, Iowa, where he worked as a carpenter and farmer. Ten years later, in 1845, Andrew married Rachel Jane Meeks of Des Moines, Iowa. They had nine children during their forty-three-year union.

After his trip to Oregon in 1847–48, Andrew moved to a farm near Boone, Iowa. In 1865, he relocated to Clark County, Missouri, where he and Rachel raised their family on a 540-acre farm. Following Rachel’s death on 25 April 1888, Andrew continued to live at the Missouri farm with his unmarried daughter, Mary.

Andrew passed away on 8 July 1902 at age eighty-five. His grandson, Clarence Poe, wrote in a biographical sketch that Andrew “was a great lover of outdoors. . . . many times he has walked 20 miles in a single day. He was a stout rugged man of about 6 ft. tall but never fleshy” (3).

Bibliography

Family Papers, 1847–1958. Vault Mss 655. BrighamYoungUniversity Special Collections.