One of six children born to Abraham and Abigail Okie in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He married Henrietta Okie in 1841 and had six children with her. He lived with his wife and kids in Providence at three different residences during their lives together. One of Okie’s more popular patients included famous author and poet Edgar Allan Poe, who was courting the Providence poetess Sarah Helen Whitman in the city in 1848. One day, in November of that year, after Poe had just sat for his incredibly infamous “Ultima Thule” daguerreotype, he visited Whitman’s house on Benefit Street in a frantic state, begging her to save him from some terrible impending doom. Whitman’s mother Anna Power called for Dr. Okie to come have a look at Poe and make sure he was both mentally and physically well. Dr. Okie advised that Poe stay at the home of a friend, rather than going back to his hotel alone. William Jewett Pabodie (another Providence resident and mutual friend of Poe and Whitman) took Poe to his home and cared for him over the next few days.

Dr. Abraham Okie died in 1882 at the age of 63 and is buried at Swan Point Cemetery.