http://www.mindspring.com/~poefamily/EnglishIrishColonialPoe...Test of this site is below, sans links.
Connections between the English, Irish and colonial Poe Families
William Poe 2003
The following summarizes findings in regard to possible connections between the English, Irish and colonial Poe families. Data have been entered into a separate database at Ancestry.com which reflects the evidence as outlined below. This database is cleared label as "English Irish American Poe Speculations." While every connection matches existing historical records, assumptions are necessarily made, such as accepting that Edward Poe listed in the Ulster Muster Roll of 1630 is the same Edward Poe found later in Nottinghamshire baptizing a son named Samuel Poe. Broader leaps than this are made when attempting to connect Poe family members in 17th century Pennsylvania and early 18th century Virginia with people of the same name found in England and Ireland. Still, short of a miraculous discovery of historical documents, the arrangement I have made fits the extant data without violating common sense.
Most of the data from England and Ireland were found in the book entitled The Family of Poë or Poe by Sir Edmund Thomas Bewley, published in 1905 (recently re-examined on microfilm at the Library of Congress). Each record in the Ancestry.com charts states specific citations from Bewley or other sources.
See charts on Ancesty.com
URL:
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:25487...As a descendant of Simon Poe, Sr, found in the records of Caroline County, Virginia as early as 1737, my long-time quest has been to demonstrate that he is a son of the Samuel Poe who first makes an appearance in the Quit Rent Rolls of Essex County Virginia for the year 1704 as owner of 800 acres of rich tobacco farming land. A broader goal has been to find out where Samuel Poe came from and how he had the resources to acquire so much land, given that he was not of the gentry class. In fact, he was quite the thorn in their side.
Samuel Poe and the other Poes who can be found in Essex County and Caroline County, Virginia (Essex County was divided in 1732 and the Poe lands became part of Caroline County) were constantly harassed by the upper classes. Samuel Poe was accused of blasphemy and saddle thieving and publicly whipped in 1720. Simon Poe, Sr was accused of violating tobacco planting laws (tending seconds) and fined many thousands of pounds of tobacco. This harassment ultimately played a role in driving Simon Poe's family out of Virginia into North Carolina, Kentucky and elsewhere. A remnant of the Poe family held onto 105 acres in Caroline County into the nineteenth century.
For many years, I have been aware that Poe family members, allegedly of Irish origin, settled in Pennsylvania by the early 18th Century. Recent research demonstrates, however, that the Pennsylvania Poe family was established in Chester/Delaware County by 1692, twelve years before evidence reveals Samuel's presence in Virginia. It seemed to me that that Samuel Poe must have been related to the Pennsylvania Poes. But how? Researchers of the Chester/Delaware and Bucks County, Pennsylvania Poe families felt sure their men were from Ulster, Northern Ireland. Researchers of Samuel Poe's heritage felt, on no evidence frankly, that he hailed from Nottinghamshire. Many have used the work of Edmund Bewley to support their position.
It turns out that we were all correct. The Ulster Poes were not truly Irish, not Celts. The Irish Poes were Englishmen taking advantage of the drive by Charles II to settle Ulster with protestants. Already in Ulster by 1630, three men, William, Anthony and Thomas, sons of Anthony Poe of Papplewick, Nottinghamshire, England, took up arms to put down the Ulster Rebellion of 1641. They became captains and lieutenants in the Parliamentary Army, both in England and Ireland. Later, they were rewarded with lands, but holding onto those lands proved complicated for many reasons.
Two generations later, sons of Richard Poe of Belleen, County Tipperary, who was a son of Lieutenant Thomas Poe of Cloghan, King's County, Ireland, son of Anthony Poe of Papplewick, Nottinghamshire, appear to have left Ireland for the New World. Some of these men are apparently found in the records of Pennsylvania - William Poe, Thomas Poe and Essex County, Virginia, Robert Poe. A cousin, Samuel Poe, baptized in St. Mary's Parish, Nottinghamshire in 1659, son of Edward and Mary Poe and first cousin of the brothers William, Anthony and Thomas appears to have migrated with them. This is the Samuel Poe who died in Essex County in 1725.
The story is just as intricate as one should expect from a family history. But nothing stretches the imagination. Edmund Bewley found records showing that one Richard Poe of Poesfeld, Derbyshire was listed as an under-keeper of Sherwood Forest in 1591. This Richard Poe of Poesfeld apparently had two sons Anthony Poe of Papplewick and James Poe of Nottinghamshire. The Poe brothers of Ulster, William, Thomas and Anthony, descend from Anthony Poe of Papplewick. James Poe of Nottinghamshire was father of the notable Dr. Leonard Poe, physician to James I and Charles II, and of Richard Poe whose son Edward Poe appears to be the father of Samuel Poe of Essex County, Virginia.
Edward Poe was living in Ulster in 1630 near Anthony Poe as evidenced by a Muster Roll attributed to that year. This Anthony Poe was the son of Anthony Poe of Papplewick. It appears that Edward Poe moved back to Nottinghamshire. An Edward Poe was there in 1659 as evidence by the records of St. Mary’s Parish, Nottingham (the baptism of son Samuel Poe and daughter Sarah). Another reference to Edward Poe living in Nottinghamshire can be found in court records from 1668. Simon Poe, senior (see the charts for where he fits in), of the town and County of Nottingham, cordwainer (shoemaker) filed a lawsuit. On P.5 Bewley states that, "The bill also sought to recover a legacy left to the plaintiff by one George Poe, of Gedling, son of Edward Poe, of Gedling, the plaintiff's near kinsman." George Poe also fits into the charts.
The St. Mary's Nottingham register shows two baptisms of children by Edward and Mary Poe (provided by a NottsGen researcher who examined the original Records as well as the CD collection).
11 Jul 1654 Sarah d. of Edward POE & Mary
26 Jun 1659 Samuell s. of Edwd. POE & Mary
The date of the baptism for Samuel fits well with Samuel Poe of Essex County, Virginia who died in 1725. Samuel Poe would have known his relatives who resided in Ulster and may have lived on their lands before coming to Virginia. These were men of means, both in terms of cash and land (as evidenced by the sums and lands bequeathed in their wills).
Samuel easily could have inherited money from any number of his Irish relatives, or even from James Poe, son of Dr. Leonard Poe, who was quite wealthy, but left no male descendants. James Poe seems to have been among the overseers of William Poe’s will (son of Anthony of Papplewick, indicating the strong family connections between Ulster, Nottinghamshire and London).
Samuel may simply have shared in the family wealth as a laborer on the farms and cattle ranches that the Poes owned in Ulster. At any rate, it must have been through wealth attained through this family that allows Samuel Poe to acquire over 800 acres of prime tobacco farming land in Virginia as evidenced by the 1704 Quit Rent Roll for Essex County. Until now it has been a mystery by what means Samuel Poe could have garnered the resources to purchase such lands. Samuel Poe was not of the gentry class, but seems to be from the social strata of well-to-do yeoman occupied by the Poe family in Nottinghamshire and Ulster (Anthony Poe of Papplewick and the Ulster Poes were referred to as Yeoman – or farmer. Thomas Poe of Ulster raised cattle for export).
It should be noted that historical records show that the Poe families changed residency between Ulster and their homeland of Nottinghamshire rather frequently during the mid-1600s, partly due to legal and family issues and partly due to the unrest caused by the settlement policies of Charles II and invasions by Cromwell’s parliamentary armies to put down the insurrections such as the Great Ulster Insurrection of 1641. The families of William Poe, Anthony Poe and Thomas Poe, sons of Anthony Poe of Papplewick, were all effected by the political turmoil.
See map of Ireland from 1600
http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/ire1600.htm and see the summary of Irish history between 1607 and 1704. It becomes clear why Englishmen who had acquired land in Ireland might have decided to seek their fortune elsewhere by the later 1600s.
http://www.geocities.com/welisc/ifaq/part05.html 1607 Flight of the Earls; leading Ulster families go into exile.
1610 Policy of plantation by colonisation begins in Ulster.
1641 Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in England.
1642 Confederation of Kilkenny formed.
1646 Duke of Ormonde surrenders Dublin to parliamentary forces.
1649 Cromwell invades Ireland. Irish resistance crushed by 1652.
1653 England, Scotland and Ireland unified as a single Commonwealth. Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's opponents stripped of land. Irish lands granted to soldiers and creditors of the Commonwealth.
1660 Restoration of the monarchy and dissolution of the Commonwealth.
1662 Act of Settlement allows Protestants loyal to the monarchy to recover lands lost under the Commonwealth.
1665 Act of Explanation forces Cromwellian settlers to surrender one-third of their grants to partially compensate Catholics for losses under the Commonwealth.
1689-90 Deposed James II flees to Ireland; defeated at the Battle of the Boyne by William of Orange and flees to France.
1691 Defeat of Jacobite army at Aughrim and surrender at Limerick.
1704 Penal Laws enacted; Catholics barred from voting, education and the military. Test Act effectively limits civic offices to members of the Church of Ireland.
Bewley could not find references in England or Ireland for several of the known children of Richard Poe, son of Thomas Poe, son of Anthony Poe of Papplewick – namely, Thomas, Robert, William, John, Richard and John.
As suggested above, some of these men may have traveled to the colonies. A Robert Poe died in Essex County, Virginia in 1722. This Robert Poe does not appear to have lived on the Samuel Poe estate of (by that time) 905 acres – or else he rented land there. Robert Poe died with a small estate of his own, but no mention of heirs has been found. A Katherine Poe, who appears in the court records around the same time may be his widow.
http://www.mindspring.com/~poefamily/PoeRobertKatherine.htm There seems to be a William Poe (spelled Poes in the record) in the Bucks county tax records for1693 – 1778, listing him as resident there in 1693. A Thomas Poe appears in the records of Chester County, Pennsylvania records from 19 November 1692.
Chester Court ye 19th day of ye 11th month 1692 Wee the Grand Inquest by ye Kings Authority in ye name of ye Propriatery doe present Thomas Poe and Sarah Buller for Comitting fornication.
Of the men that Bewley could not account for in Ireland, the above records may reveal what happened to Robert, William and Thomas. The others, Richard and John may have come to the colonies, but we have no record of their activities. It is remarkable that if it was not for the dalliance of Thomas Poe and the one tax record for William Poe, we would not know of their existence.
It appears that Patrick Poe, mentioned frequently in the records of Bucks County, Pennsylvania and whose descendants settled in Kentucky is a son of the above-mentioned Thomas Poe. However, this needs to be more carefully examined.
See data on the Pennsylvania Poe family at :
http://www.mindspring.com/~poefamily3/PoePennsylvania.htm