10 Facts About Austin Roe

Austin Roe was a member of the Culper Ring, a successful spy network during the American War of Independence that was organized in 1778 by George Washington.

Austin Roe married Catherine Jones, and the couple had eight children.

At first, the ring employed just Hawkins in the role, but by early summer, Austin Roe had joined the group as an alternate rider, who would take messages the 55 miles between the group's two major centers of operation, Setauket, New York, and New York City.

Austin Roe served the Culper spy ring as a courier by secretly relaying its messages beginning in early 1779.

Austin Roe claimed to be conducting business as a merchant in order to avoid suspicion and pass through the British checkpoints.

The document contained information that brothers Nathaniel and Philip Austin Roe were part of the "Long Island spy network," but the allegations were neither investigated nor acted upon.

Austin Roe became a captain in Lieutenant Colonel David Pierson's New York militia regiment in Suffolk County, New York, in 1787.

Austin Roe opened an inn there, where for three decades he regaled his patrons with tales of his exploits during the war.

Austin Roe died in Suffolk County in 1830 at the age of 82; and was buried in the family graveyard.

Austin Roe's body was eventually re-interred in the Cedar Grove Cemetery, in Patchogue, after the town was founded by a descendant.