Archive for November, 2011

Keyphrases and search engines

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

My website service provider produces an astonishing range of statistics: pages, bandwidth, hits, visit durations, operating systems, status codes, etc. Unfortunately, I confess I do not know how to use most of them to advantage.  Some I find completely baffling.  That said some keyword search phrases do stimulate my curiosity.  Names I do not recognize; “victorian ladies postcards” (I think I have a couple or three.); “belle vernon pa”; cairo il; “steamboat aleonia”;…

 

If you have some keen or titillating interest in a subject to date uncovered, drop me a line.  I will do my best to post a comment or add a page under Biographical Data and Tales.  I can be reached by email at

 

                        fwnash@comcast.net

 

 

 

Copyright © 2011 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

Old documents.

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

My Aunt Frances Finley let me review old Georgetown documents in her possession.  Most of the documents are deeds which follow the transactions of the Jacob Poeproperty.  The earliest deed is dated 1804.  In that deed Samuel Lyon sold Georgetown Lot No 21 to John Christmas for $30.  Lot 21 is “The Poe House“.  In 1850 Jacob Poe bought Lot 21 for $350; in 1873 he sold  it to his son George WE Poe for $3,500. 

 

Another interesting factoid is that Jacob Poe bought “Poe Wood” (Patent Book b page 334 in 1786 and Deed Book G page 204 in 1825).  In 1850, Jacob Poe bought Poe Wood from the heirs of Andrew Poe, the famed Indian fighter.  “Poe Wood”, as the story goes, was granted to Andrew Poe in 1786 by the Commonwealth of VA.  His brother and partner in the famous battle, Adam, was also granted a Patent named “Poesville”.  The disposition of that property is unknown.

 

Another interesting document is a Debt Judgment.  In 1811 Thomas Smith won a judgment against William Carneagy for a sum of $47.18.  Samuel Power was the High Sheriff of Beaver County at the time.

 

The old Georgetown documents are catalogued in an Excel spreadsheet for your review.  The link to the data is called GeorgetownDocuments.  Some of the Lot No 21 deeds have also been scanned and loaded.

 

Copyright © 2011 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

Andrew and Adam Poe ― The Indian Fighters

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

I have compiled a list of a number of versions of the story of the Poe brothers, Andrew and Adam, and the Wyandot Indian war party in 30 Sep 1781.  Details differ in each account, but all are entertaining.  More importantly, the stories provide a glimpse of the brutal life endured by the first settlers on the Ohio River frontier in the 1780′s.  This hand to hand combat is arguably the most well known and most exciting tale of the frontier Indian wars.

 

Adam Poe, the Indian fighter, is the grandfather of most of the Poe steamboat captains.

 

This list will be updated as new sources are found.  Although each Poe genealogy report I have collected also has an account of the Indian battle, those accounts have not been included in my list.  Only books, printed and electronic editions, and published articles have been listed.

 

It is worth repeating ― Kentucky had Daniel Boone; Texas had Davey Crockett; the Tri-State centered around Georgetown, PA had the Poe brothers.
1.  Capt Adam Poe, “Early History of the Poe Family in America”, East Liverpool Crisis, about 1890, p 7-12.

2.  Allan W Eckert, “That Dark and Bloody River, Bantam Books, New York, 1995, p283-290.

3.  Rev Joseph H Bausman, “History of Beaver County Pennsylvania”, The Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1904, p 161-163.

4.  M Randall, Jr, Esq, “The Canadian Reader”, Walter & Gaylord, Stanstead, L.C., 1834, p 167-172.

5.  Author Unknown, “The Poe Brothers and Big Foot”, Beaver County Historical Milestone Vol 22 No 2, Summer 1997.

6.  William Dean Howell, “Stories of Ohio”, American Book Co, New York, 1897, p43-46.

7.  Samuel Kercheval, “A History of the Valley of Virginia”, 1833; 3rd ed 1902 (Electronic ed 2009), EagleRidge technologies, Rockwood, TN, p 240-243.

8.  Author Unknown, “Moravians and Wyandots”, Westmoreland Co Genealogy Report Chapter XXII.
9 Ben Douglas, “The History of Wayne Co Ohio from the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time”, Robert Douglas, Publisher, Indianapolis, IN, 1878, p 830-834.

10.  Alfred Creigh, “History of Washington Co, Pennsylvania”, 1870, p62.

11.  Patrick M Reynolds, “Pennsylvania Profiles The Poe Brothers”, The Red Rose Studio, Willow Street, PA, 1985.