Son of John Roe and Joanna Miller, husband of Catherine Jones, whom he married on January 6, 1773 in Suffolk County, New York, and father of Justus, Hannah (married Isaac Munsell), Joanna (died young), Stephen, Ebenezer, Joanna , Elizabeth (married Benevolent Stephens, married Shadrach 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, New York.

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 in named "The Willows" around 1875. In 1901 he was exhumed and reburied in Cedar Grove.

Son of John Roe and Joanna Miller, husband of Catherine Jones, whom he married on January 6, 1773 in Suffolk County, New York, and father of Justus, Hannah (married Isaac Munsell), Joanna (died young), Stephen, Ebenezer, Joanna , Elizabeth (married Benevolent Stephens, married Shadrach 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, New York.

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 in named "The Willows" around 1875. In 1901 he was exhumed and reburied in Cedar Grove.