Book by Capt Adam Poe
Introduction. Capt Adam W Poe wrote a book in 1887 that included the Poe family genealogy, an account of the famous Indian fighters Andrew and Adam Poe and their battle with the Wyandot war party, and a memoir of his own of river experiences. His recollections of river experiences begins on page 8. The book was made available by the University of Pittsburgh Libraries. I printed their eBook and scanned and loaded the pages.
I have three accounts of the river experiences. The copy in my inherited boxes and the version in the Mullooly book, “Steamboat ‘Round the Bend” differ slightly from the eBook. For example in the Mullooly version the sentence “…but father became offended at my words.” was changed from “… he had been drinking and became offended at my words.” in the eBook. For comparison, the Mullooly version is found on the page River Experiences.
There also are uncorrected errors. In both versions Capt Adam Poe incorrectly identified the Missouri River when the town involved was on the upper Mississippi River. Maybe some of the stories did not actually happen as described, but that was the way he remembered it. And after all, that is what counts in the recollection business.
There is a kind of mythology that stories like this tend to drift toward. A wonderful read.