John P. Poe Sr.

John Prentiss Poe Sr. (August 22, 1836 – October 14, 1909) was Attorney General of the State of Maryland from 1891 to 1895. He was born in Baltimore, the son of Neilson Poe and wife Josephine Emily Clemm. Poe was a second cousin once removed of the poet Edgar Allan Poe as well as a nephew through his mother.

John P. Poe attended Princeton University, graduating with the class of 1854. He married Anne Johnson Hough and had six sons and three daughters. All six sons played football for Princeton. Son Edgar Allan Poe served as state Attorney General from 1911 to 1915. Another son, Johnny Poe coached at Navy and Virginia, and was killed in the Battle of Loos during World War I. Art Poe was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame, and Gresham Poe was chief coach at Virginia.

John Poe Sr. was a lawyer as well as a major member of the Maryland Democratic Party, and served as Dean of the University of Maryland School of Law. He died in Ruxton, Baltimore County, October 14, 1909, and was buried in Baltimore's Green Mount Cemetery.