Austin Roe

Austin Roe (March 2, 1748 – November 28, 1830) was a member of the Culper Ring, a spy network during the American Revolutionary War that was organized in 1778 by George Washington.

Early life Austin Roe was born March 2, 1748, in Port Jefferson, New York. He married Catherine Jones, and the couple had eight children.

Career Roe was a woodworker by trade, referred to as a "joiner" or "cabinetmaker" on legal documents he attested to. Surviving references to his work in account books and on receipts, provide evidence that he built various wood products, like window sashes, chairs, tables, and coffins.

Though once thought to be the owner of a tavern in East Setauket, no primary sources support this fact.

Roe served the Culper spy ring as a courier by secretly relaying its messages beginning in early 1779. He claimed to be conducting business as a merchant in order to avoid suspicion and pass through the British checkpoints. Roe became the sole dispatch carrier for the ring after July 1779, when Tallmadge gave Roe–but not Hawkins–a code number in his code index. The document contained information that brothers Nathaniel and Philip Roe were part of the "Long Island spy network," but the allegations were neither investigated nor acted upon.

Later life After the war, Roe continued to live in Setauket. in 1787. He and his family settled the area which would become the town of Patchogue on Long Island's south shore in 1798. Specifically, he settled on the area known as Pine Neck within East Patchogue and operated a farm there.

Roe died in Suffolk County in 1830 at the age of 82; and was buried in the family graveyard. His body was eventually re-interred in the Cedar Grove Cemetery, in Patchogue, after the town was founded by a descendant.