JOHN OAKS, 1850

The OaK-Oaks-Oakes Family Register. Nathaniel Oak of Marlbrough, Mass by Henry Lubbeus Oak (1906) gives this information:

Seth Oaks (1733-1814) was a soldier in the French and Indian War and an early settler of Vermont (1780). One of his sons, John Oak (born 1766), married Lydia Chafee in 1789 and lived in Athens, Vermont. Lydia moved to Monmouth, Illinois, after her husband's death, to live with her son, John. She died October 25, 1852, and was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery. (Another Lydia Oaks is buried there, too, dying April 9, 1850, aged 11). Their children were

Erza (1792)

Susan

Lucy (1797-1876) She married Abner Davis, 1794-1874, who had received a land grant in Henderson County, Illinois, for his service in the war of 1812. She is buried in the Stronghurst cemetery

John Oaks was born in Vermont in 1800. His wife, Judith T. H. died August 12, 1847. He died April 14, 1852, and was buried next to her in the Pioneer Cemetery in Monmouth. They had two children, who were taken in by Abner and Lucy Davis: Kirk W. Oaks (1839) married Eleanor J. Long in Henderson County April 24, 1865; Mary (1844) married Nov. 19, 1863, in Henderson County to William T. Sphere.

Samuel, Amelia, Lydia, Fanny, and

Seth (1814), who moved to Warren County in Illinois; he married a native of Kentucky, Louisa, and had two daughters and two sons in 1850; by 1860 his wife was apparently dead and he had three more children.

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On January 20, 1835, John Oaks was granted a permit in Monmouth to sell retail goods and merchandise for one year. On March 3 of that year he bought the Southwest quarter of Section 18 in Township 10 (166.80 acres) for $1.25 an acre; he filed the official papers only only November 3, 1840. In 1838 he sold this land to his brother Seth March 31, 1838, for $508.50.  (Illinois State Archives)

The census of 1840 found him in Warren County, aged between 30 and 40, with wife of the same age and a son under the age of 5 (this would be Kirk). In 1850, however, the census has him living alone in Monmouth, born 1800 in Vermont, and working as a boot- and shoemaker, with property valued at $2500.

He was mayor in 1850.

He died April 14, 1852 (Atlas, May 7, 1852) at the home of his sister, Lucy, in Henderson County: "The deceased departed with apparent calmness, having professed his trust in the Savior of Sinners."