On Sunday, April 19, the Patchogue Historical Society, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Colonel Josiah Smith chapter, and theis a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization founded in 1890, The National Society of the Children of the American Revolution (CAR) held an unveiling of the recovered Captain Austin Roe grave marker.

The DAR was founded to promoting patriotism, preserve American history, and secure better education. With nearly 190,000 members in 3,000 chapters worldwide, it is open to any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot who aided in the American Revolution (19 April 1775 – 26 November 1783).

Members participate in locating and marking Revolutionary War veterans’ graves, preserving historic sites, supporting schools, and providing scholarships.

The DAR maintains an expansive Genealogical Research System (GRS) to assist prospective members in tracing their lineage and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The organization holds one of the world’s largest collections of source documents regarding American history.The CAR, founded in 1895, is the oldest patriotic youth organization in our country. Membership is open to descendants of patriots of the American Revolution.

Members gain valuable leadership experience in conducting meetings, following parliamentary procedures and standard protocol, serving as delegates and speaking before groups at local, state and national conferences. The responsibility and privilege of selecting officers helps members gain an understanding of the democratic process.

Captain Austin Roe was born the son of John Roe and Joanna Miller and the husband of Catherine Jones, whom he married on January 6, 1773 in Suffolk County, New York. He was the father of ten: Justus, Hannah (married Isaac Munsell), Joanna (died young), Stephen, Ebenezer, Joanna , Elizabeth (married Benevolent Stephens, marriedShadrach Terry), Sarah (married Austin M. Roe), Mary (married Joseph Lovett, married Joseph Osborn Hedges), and Lewis Roe.The son of an old Setauket family, he was the owner of the Roe Tavern in Setauket. He featured prominently in the American Revolutionary War, being a secret courier in the “Culper Spy Ring” in service to General George Washington, on Long Island. He was known as the Messenger of the Culper Spy Ring, and listed in Col. Talmadge’s Culper codebook as Agent 724. He and his band were instrumental on the capture of British Major John Andre and the down fall of Benedict Arnold in 1780. He was so well favored by President Washington that Washington made a special effort to visit him at his home in Setauket in 1790.He moved to Patchogue in 1798 and founded and Roe Eagle Hotel in Patchogue, N.Y. His son Justus was the inventor of the modern-day retractable Carpenter’s Tape Measure.He passed away in 1830 from gangrene that infected his left leg when he was accidentally thrown from his horse. He was buried in the Roe family cemetery on his property which was located on Roe Blvd., Patchogue, by the Greater Patchogue Lake, and was moved to a cemetery named “The Willows” around 1875. In 1901 he was exhumed and reburied in Cedar Grove.

Once his gravestone was reclaimed after being stolen from Cedar Grove, local business, Fricke Memorials designed and installed sturdier anti-theft features for the historical marker.

Colonials in costume began the ceremony with a walk led by General George Washington (played by Michael Grillo) followed by the 3rdRegiment of New York.

Over 30 descendants of Roe were in attendance for the ceremony including Massachusetts and Connecticut. Daniel Roe, a five times great grandson of Austin who lives in Maryland, took the podium first and said, “There’s a poem, I’m surprised no one had mentioned it yet, but it’s called “Midnight Rides of Austin Roe,”…this was a poem by Scott Bailey, a Suffolk County historian, and it’s a poem that my grandmother, Marjorie Roe, who I think everyone knew as Honey, loved to tell us this poem because it was basically Paul Bailey riffing on Paul Revere and ‘why should Paul Revere get all the credit? He rode one night. Austin rode all these times…it’s important, I think, to pass along stories like that.”

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