Amesbury’s Poyen Family, A to Z

The family name Poyen seems to have disappeared from today’s directory of living Amesbury residents, but the legacy of John St. Sauveur Poyen (1819-1880) and his descendants remains visible in our community. Whether it’s the factory building on the corner of Clark Street and Elm Street, the striking Victorian style home on Main Street, or the brick commercial building dominating Merrimac Square, evidence of this impressive family can still be seen.

The family rose to prominence when John St. Sauveur Poyen became a prosperous supplier of carriage upholstery materials and hardware to the many carriage manufacturers in Amesbury and Merrimac. His father, Joseph R. de Poyen (1767-1850), had been a carriage builder in West Amesbury, now Merrimac. His son, John S. Poyen Jr. (1860-1943), continued in the carriage-making supply business and married into the family of J. R. Huntington, who is credited with founding the carriage industry in Amesbury. John Jr. lived the life of a wealthy Amesbury businessman, but he was also technically competent, obtaining patents for carriage-related inventions such as springs and axles.

Sadly, later Poyen generations left Amesbury for Florida, Mexico and Colorado. The last of the John S. Poyens, John S. Poyen V (1940-2015), had a career in the Canadian energy industry and died in 2015. He and his wife had visited Amesbury in the early 2000s and toured the Poyen home on Main Street, so we know he was aware of his family roots here.

The story of the Poyens has an amazing number of connections, threads and side stories, including a family link to poet John Greenleaf Whittier and a flight from France to escape possible execution after the French Revolution. This history has been carefully researched and documented by the always diligent ACM volunteer researcher Mike Harrold.

Read Mike’s full report here.

Building at the corner of Elm and Clark streets in Amesbury built by the Colchester Mill Co. in 1883 for leasing to John Poyen Jr.’s business.

Commercial building in Merrimac Square built by John Poyen Jr. in 1886.

John S. Poyen Jr., perhaps the best known of the Amesbury Poyens.

John Poyen Jr.’s Victorian style home on Main Street, built in the 1880s.