Artist Andrew Jackson Poe

 

Andrew Jackson Poe (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

Andrew Jackson Poe (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

Andrew Jackson Poe, the artist and the son of Adam W Poe and Lucy Irene Todd Smith, was born on Mar 2, 1851 in Greene Township, Beaver Co, PA.  Andrew’s father was one of the far-famed Georgetown steamboat captains.  Poor and mentally deranged,  Andrew J Poe died on Nov 11, 1920 in the Beaver Co Home in Monaco, PA where he had been living since 1903.  He was interred in the Georgetown Cemetery.

According to Harriet Calhoon Ewing, the daughter of Capt Thomas S Calhoon and longtime neighbor of the Jacob Poe family, “Adam Poe’s son Andrew was oblivious to everything but his art, and sold his oils for next to nothing.  He spent his latter days in the Beaver Co Home where my father-in-law, JH Ewing, was superintendent.  Mrs Ewing once remarked to me that Andrew came there with nothing but the clothes on his back and his painting kit.”  These remarks from an interview conducted by Capt Frederick Way Jr were published in the S&D Reflector in Dec 1965. [1]

Why he was admitted to the “poor house” at age fifty-one is not known.  While there Andrew J was befriended by John Wesley Nippert, an administrator at the facility.  Mr Nippert bought paint, canvas, and other supplies paying for them from his own pocket.  In gratitude, Andrew J either gave paintings to his benefactor from time to time or left them to him at his death.  The canvases numbered about forty, mostly oils.  Today, the paintings are scattered over the upper Ohio River valley.  In 1972 Alexander McIntosh identified the owners of 19 of the paintings.

Owner Location Number
Public Library East Liverpool, OH 6
Walter Poe Beaver, PA 3
Richard Miller Butler, PA 3
Wilbur H Sayers Chester, WV 1
John Henderson Clarksburg, WV 2
John Freshwater Falls Creek, VA 3
Lillian May Poe Georgetown, PA 1

 

 

Andrew J Poe lived in St Louis in 1892-1893.  Mrs Lillian May (Poe) Wagner  reported that he studied art at a school in St Louis and he assisted in the painting of the murals at Union Station.  Union Station had a grand opening in 1894 and now is a National Historic Landmark and Marriott Hotel.  In the hotel a small part of the mural was moved and restored during renovations completed in 1985.  The mural depicted men working on the rails and different types of trains.  However, there is no documentation naming the artists who worked on the project.  I have stayed at the Marriott several times and talked to its managers who knew little about the mural.  It is a fine hotel with a grand hall, gothic corridor, and an impressive bar with Tiffany glass windows.

 

Attached is a photo of Andrew Jackson Poe taken from the brochure of an exhibit of his artwork.  The exhibit, curated by William H Vodrey and sponsored by the East Liverpool Historical Society in 1971, showed 87 pieces of art.  The brochure cover, index and artist biography are also attached.

 

Bochure for Andrew Poe Exhibit (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

Bochure for Andrew Poe Exhibit (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brochure Artist Page for Andrew Poe Exhibit (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

Brochure Artist Page for Andrew Poe Exhibit (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

Brochure pg 2 for Andrew Poe Exhibit (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

Brochure pg 2 for Andrew Poe Exhibit (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2009 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

References.

 


[1] Capt Frederick Way, Jr., The Steamboating Poe Family, (S&D Reflector (Dec 1965)).