Thomas Jefferson Poplin apparently grew up in Stanly County, but records show he enlisted in the Confederate Army in Anson County. He had moved there with his wife Judith to work on the farm of the Lindsey family. He returned to Anson County after the war and lived there on his 30-acre farm, until his death in 1885. His house still remains. It is located near the Olivet Methodist Church in Lilesville, Anson County, North Carolina. Stanly County was cut from Montgomery County where he was born. Montgomery County was cut from Anson County and Anson was cut from Bladen County, N.C.

T.J. Poplin was on the confederate wall defending Battery Waggoner during the first charge of union troops as depicted in the movie Glory (Charleston, SC).  Thomas Jefferson Poplin's war record (and those of his brothers) can be found in public libraries throughout North Carolina See: A Roster of Troops 1861 to 1865. There were five sons of John Alexander Poplin who were Confederate soldiers. The sixth son, David W. Poplin was only eleven years old when the war began, too young to be a soldier.

T. J. Poplin was apparently literate and he was active in the Olivet Methodist Church. In 1870 he wrote a letter to a friend in Aquadale, saying that the Olivet members were using a log house where slaves had pulled lint from cotton seed, indicating that the 1843 church had burned. The members were talking about building a new church (which they later did). T. J. Poplin was one of Olivet's song leaders, using a tuning fork to lead the singing. (The early church had no piano or organ). His son Jim later led the singing.

After the death of his first wife, Judith Willertha Murry, Thomas Jefferson Poplin married Eliza Adeline Swink of Anson County, N.C. They had an infant daughter who died un-named, date unknown. They were married on January 15, 1884. He was 52, she was 36. He died about 14 months later.

From the local newspaper account:  April 30, 1885 - A suicide occurred in our county last week. On last Thursday morning before day, Mr. Thomas Poplin, a farmer in the eastern part of the county, left his house, and going to the well, deliberately pulled off the covering and jumped in and drowned himself. As soon as the family became aware of his absence, search was made, and his body was found in the well. No cause is assigned for the act, though there was a suspicion that he intended some injury to himself. He leaves a wife and three children. At this time his children were all grown and he had remarried' following the death of his wife of 34 years.

His second wife Eliza Poplin at age 81, she applied for and received his Confederate Soldier's Pension from the State of North Carolina.  Eliza Adeline Swink Poplin, the second wife and widow of Thomas J. Poplin also buried at Olivet Methodist Church. Her grave is a few steps to the left of that of Thomas Jefferson. Also buried there are other members of her Swink family. She was active in the Olivet Methodist Church and was known as "Mrs. Adeline Poplin" until her death. She did not like motorized vehicles and her casket was taken from the house to the church for burial in a horse-drawn wagon. (He received this information from Mr. Elmer Goodwin of Lilesville who actually attended her funeral as a young boy.)