Capt Thomas W Poe with his two wives had three daughters and two sons. Clarissa was born in 1845 to his first wife, Phoebe Kinsey. Together they also had one son, John W, who was a clerk on his father’s packets. With his second wife, Martha Jane Troxell, he had two daughters: Amelia and Mary E. Little is known about Charles F who was born in 1855.
Capt Thomas W Poe honored his daughters by naming a packet after each. That distinction suggests the high regard Thomas W Poe had for his family. It denotes a fine sense of what is morally right in family matters.
That said misfortune visited each of the specially honored packets. The str Clara Poe was burned by rebels on 17 Apr 1865 on the Cumberland River during the war of rebellion, the str Amelia Poe was snagged on the upper Missouri River on 24 May 1868 and salvaged by Indians; the str Mary E Poe went up in flames on the Mississippi River on 17 Oct 1873 due to a boiler malfunction. All were total financial losses.
After the tragic death of Martha Jane on 18 Dec 1870 aboard the str Nick Wall, Thomas W Poe moved to St Louis to be near his daughter Clara. At his death bed only John W, Clara, and his two brothers, Jacob and Adam, were present. There is no record of the two daughters of Martha Jane.
The mystery of the confluence of these events and people bends my mind into curlicues.
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