Nathaniel Oaks (1751 – 1840) of Chelsea, Vermont

III. CHILDREN OF JOHN' (7) AND SUSANNA ALLEN.

Page 18 Oak – Oaks - Oakes

20. Nathaniel. Chelsea, Vt., hotel-keeper; born Westboro( Westborough, Worcester County), Mass., May 16, 1751 ; married first, Bolton, June 2 (or 20), 1773; married second about 1804; died Exeter, Me., March 15, 1940.

First wife, Susanna Hastings, daughter of Capt. Benjamin and Abigail (Sawtell) ; born Bolton, (Worcester County) Mass., February 11, 1748; died Chelsea, (Orange County) Vermont, about 1803. She was a woman for whom her children had an unusually strong affection and reverence; and the name of Hastings has been preserved in many branches of her descendants. She was a good singer, a favorite pupil of Billings, the famous New England teacher and composer; nine children (70-78). Second wife, Elizabeth (widow Gates); no children. After her husband's death she went from Exeter, (Penobscot County) Me. (Maine), to live with relations in Castleton, Vt., and died before 1848.

Nathan iel^ Oak, losing his father when an infant, went with his mother to Shrewsbury, Mass., 1754; but from 1766, when she went to New Hampshire, and perhaps earlier, he lived with his uncle Nathaniel (2) in Boston, perhaps also spending some years in Winchendon with his cousins William (10) and Seth (11). At his marriage in Bolton, 1773, he was recorded as Nathaniel Jr., which at first led to error as to his identity.

FAMILY REGISTER 19

At the Lexington alarm of 1775 he served 12 days in the company of his father-in- law, Capt. Benjamin Hastings. Possibly he may have been the Nathaniel who served later enlistments (see 13-55). If so he sent his wife to Winchester, N. H., to live with his mother and sister, where he soon followed, where most of his children were born, and where in 1777-83 he bought in three lots 176 acres of land for £508. In 1790 he removed with his family to Chelsea, (Orange County) Vt., his home for half a century. There he kept a hotel in a building still standing (1900) the hall of which was long used as county court house, for town meetings, and for meetings of the Congregational church. Later he lived in a cottage, also still standing; served as pound-keeper and sexton; took great pride in his garden ; and worked as a carpenter at odd jobs, being, like all his tribe, "handy with tools." The large number of land transfers in his name would indicate that he indulged somewhat in real estate speculation. There are traditions of considerable wealth and of extreme poverty, both perhaps well founded, but exaggerated and referring to different periods of his life. In later years he spent some winters with his oldest son in Boscawen, N. H.; and in 1839 went to live with a younger son in Exeter, Me (Maine). There on a Sunday in 1840 he died suddenly in church at the age of 89. He was a man of robust physique and of jovial temperament, as befitted a landlord; well-known and liked wherever he lived; in religion an active Methodist, but at home in the meetings of any denomination. His descendants number about 500. Name always "Oak."

SOURC E

"Oak--Oaks --Oakes : family register, Nathaniel Oak of Marlborough, Mass., and three generations of his descendants in both male and female lines" by Henry Lebbeus Oak

http://archive.org/stream/oakoaksoakesfami00oakh/oakoaksoakesfami00oakh_djvu.txt

Men of Bolton Massachusetts: The Marble, Oak, and Hastings Families Connections

By DeCody Brad Marble of Panama City, Florida

On 5 October 1749, BENJAMIN MARBLE of Lancaster married Martha Goss in Bolton, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Between the years 1750 and 1771, Benjamin and Martha (Goss) Marble had eleven children; all the children were born in Bolton, Worcester County, Massachusetts. JOSEPH MARBLE was the second born and first male child born on 23 October 1752. On 28 April 1775, Joseph (age 22) a resident of Templeton, Worcester County, Massachusetts joins the Militia at Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Joseph had enlisted 9 days after the Lexington Alarm and after his father, Benjamin (age 50) had marched off with the Bolton Minutemen under CAPTAIN BENJAMIN HASTINGS, within Colonel John Whitcomb's Regiment, Massachusetts Militia. The Lexington alarm of April 19, 1775 is considered the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It started with the ride of Paul Revere and the British attack on Lexington and Concord. State records show that 63 men from Bolton marched on the Revolutionary Road to the relief of Massachusetts Minutemen.

By 1776, Joseph Marble (age 24) is residing at Winchester, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. On 28 September 1777, in Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont, 5 miles North West from Winchester on the state border line, Joseph Marble marries Susannah Elizabeth Butler, daughter of John Butler and Susannah Allen. On 21 September 1837, in the Washington County, Vermont Court House in Montpelier, Susannah E Butler Marble makes a declaration for widow’s pension, Vermont Pension No 26015. Susannah states that the marriage was held in Brattleboro because there was not an available clergyman in Winchester.

NATHANIEL OAK

On 22 December 1837, Nathaniel Oak (age 86) of Chelsea, Orange County, Vermont, Revolutionary Pensioner of the United States, testifies that Susannah Butler Marble is his half-sister and that he and Joseph’s brother, Benjamin were witnesses to the marriage performed in Brattleboro, Vermont. Indeed, SUSANNAH ALLEN OAK was a widow of JOHN OAK (1714 – 1752) of Westborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts when on 19 May 1754, she married JOHN BUTLER (1732 - 1819) in Shrewsbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts.

Nathaniel Oak, the youngest son and child of John Oak and Susannah Allen, was born on 16 May 1751 in Westborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts. On 2 June 1773, in Bolton, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Nathaniel married SUSANNA HASTINGS, the daughter of BENJAMIN HASTINGS and ABIGAIL SAU(W)TELL. On 19 April 1775, during the Lexington Alarm, Private Nathaniel Oak, (Nath Oakes), marched from Bolton with Private Benjamin Marble to Cambridge, both under the Company Commander, Captain Benjamin Hastings, father – in – law to Nathaniel Oak. On 21 August 1832 in Chelsea, Orange County, Vermont made his declaration and stated he was a resident of Winchester, Cheshire County, Vermont in April 1775, when he joined the Bolton Minutemen under Captain Benjamin Hastings.

FINDAGRAVE.COM

"Nathaniel was a great reader, considering his opportunities, and in Boscawen took an active part with the Webster family in building up the schools. His hotel in Boscawen was on the Merrimac River, two miles above Fisherville, now Pennacook. In 1894 the hotel building was a private dwelling but had been used as a boarding house for many years for the Elmwood Academy. The nearest neighbors, Ezekiel Webster and family, a brother of the famous Daniel Webster, lived a little above and across the road. One of the Websters still lives there and remembers the times of our grandfather, when, as he writes, "Capt. Oak, as he was known, was a noted performer on the fife, and also a good player of the violin. When he was married he sold his violin to buy a cow." SOURCE: FindAGrave.Com Memorial

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66492777

Created by: Cheri Record added: Mar 04, 2011 Find A Grave Memorial# 66492777

Note: According to Cemetery Transcriptions from the NEHGS Manuscript Collectios--Capt. Nathaniel (ak (1751-1840) is buried in Crowell Cemetery, Exeter, ME {researcher is Peg Stewart}

OTHER SOURCES

Raymond H. Fogler Library, The University of Maine, Special Collections: Guide to the Nathaniel Oaks Papers

http://www.library.umaine.edu/speccoll/FindingAids/OaksNathanielpapers.htm

OAKES, Nathaniel of Bolton. (1) Private, Capt. Benjamin Hasting's Co.; Col. John Whitcomb's regt.; which marched to Cambridge on alarm of Apr. 19, 1775; service 18 days. SOURCE: [37] Revolutionary Records of Descendants of Nathaniel Oak, Marlboro, Mass. Sprague's Journal of Maine History; Vol. VI, Nov. Dec. 1918, Jan. 1919, No. 3; page 112-117.