Where Nathaniel Oak's family went, 1721 to 1840

Nathaniel Oak died at Westborough in February 1720/21 and left eight children. Within two generations his sons and grandsons were farming and carpentering in Bolton, Stow, Harvard, Rutland, Winchendon, Winchester (New Hampshire), Athens and Chelsea (Vermont), and on the Kennebec River in what is now Maine. Here they are branch by branch, each with the record that puts the family in that place. Fuller accounts are in the stories, and the searches behind them are summarized in the research log. How sure each statement is, and where it comes from, is explained on the evidence key; a name that fits is marked Likely until a record ties the person to Nathaniel.

The home place: Marlborough and Westborough, 1686 to 1721

• Nathaniel is on the 1688 Marlborough tax list. Confirmed A garrison list of March 1691/2 also names him. Likely
• Concord records his marriage to Mary Holloway as "March ye 2d 1703," which may mean 1702/3 or 1703/4. Likely His farm lay in the part of Marlborough set off as Westborough in 1717, and Hudson places his family at Samuel Goodnow's garrison near Stirrup Brook. Likely
• He died at Westborough on February 17, 1720/21. Confirmed
• In February 1721/2 Jonathan Forbush of Sutton took guardianship of eight children: Mary, Anne, John, Jonathan, George, Nathaniel, William and Hannah. Confirmed
• On July 2, 1722 their mother married Thomas Rice; she married Captain John Fay in 1744. Her story is told in Mary Holloway: three marriages and a working widow. Confirmed
• William, the son born in 1705, died in a fire at Shrewsbury in August 1723. Likely

Staying at Westborough, 1727 to 1751

Westborough's church and town records show people with the children's names marrying and raising families there. The names match the children in the guardian's bond, so these are probably Nathaniel's children. Likely

• Hannah Oake married Gershom Fay on October 20, 1727. Confirmed
• Nathaniel Oake married Tabitha Rice at Marlborough on February 20, 1726/7 and Kezia Maynard on June 7, 1736. Confirmed
• George Oake was baptized on July 7, 1728, "the Son of Mary Rice (by her former Husband Oake)." Confirmed
• Mary Oake married Daniel Maynard of Marlborough on February 20, 1734/5, and Ann Oake married David Maynard Jr. on March 14, 1737. Confirmed
• John Oake married Susanna Allen on November 3, 1742. Likely George Oake married Lydia Eager on October 23, 1744. Confirmed Both had children born at Westborough. John's children were born between 1743 and 1751, George's between 1744 and 1758. Confirmed

To Bolton, about 1746

• Nathaniel and Kezia Oake are in Bolton's records by March 23, 1746, when a daughter Mindwell is recorded, and Kezia asked the Westborough church for a transfer to Bolton on February 26, 1749. Confirmed Westborough's records have their children from 1737 to 1743. Confirmed
• Two of Nathaniel's sons by his first wife, Tabitha Rice, followed, if the register is right about them. A William Oak has children recorded at Bolton from 1753 and a daughter born "In Narragansett No. 6," now Templeton, in 1760, and a Seth Oak married Elizabeth Shevally of Stow at Bolton on May 25, 1757. The Westborough records have a William baptized in 1728 and a Seth born in 1733. Likely

To Stow and Harvard, 1749 to 1771

• Jonathan, born at Marlborough in 1717, entered his intention to marry Elizabeth Wheeler at Stow on January 19, 1748/9. Confirmed From 1749 to 1771 Harvard's records carry his marriages, deaths and children, and name him "Capt." by 1766. Confirmed The full account is Captain Jonathan Oaks: a carpenter from Marlborough to the Kennebec.

To the Kennebec: Canaan, 1772

• Hanson's history of Canaan puts a settler named Oakes there in the autumn of 1772, with several sons. Likely Jonathan Oaks of Canaan made his will on December 2, 1784, naming sixteen children, and it was proved on March 12, 1785. Confirmed The 1790 census lists Solomon, Levi and John Okes at Canaan. Confirmed

To Winchendon and Vermont

• A Seth Oak of Winchendon marched as a sergeant on the Lexington alarm of April 19, 1775, probably the Seth of Bolton. Likely The 1906 register says he left Winchendon for Athens, Vermont, in 1779 and died at Townshend, and that his son Nathaniel was an original proprietor of Athens. Unconfirmed A separate pension file, W.25398, belongs to a Nathaniel Oak of Athens, who died on March 25, 1830, and whose widow Susan applied in 1838. Confirmed Only the register makes him Seth's son. Unconfirmed

To Winchester, New Hampshire, and Chelsea, Vermont

• John Oake died before October 18, 1752, when his widow was named administratrix. Likely His widow Susanna married John Butler of Shrewsbury in 1754. Confirmed The register says she moved to Winchester, New Hampshire, in 1766. Unconfirmed
• Bolton recorded the marriage of "Nathaniel Jr. and Susanna Hastings" on June 2, 1773. Bolton's record does not say which Nathaniel this was: John's son, born at Westborough on May 16, 1751, or his cousin, born there on January 12, 1742, whose parents lived at Bolton. The 1906 register says it was John's son; no record found says so. The register says the 1742 cousin "probably died young" and "was not living in Bolton 1773, because his cousin was then known as Nathaniel Jr." (p. 16), citing no record of his death. Unconfirmed In his pension declaration, John's son says that in 1775 he lived at Winchester, New Hampshire, and served in Captain Benjamin Hastings's Bolton company at the Lexington alarm; in 1776 he served in a New Hampshire regiment. Confirmed The evidence for the Bolton marriage is on the Hastings story.
• By 1832 he was living at Chelsea, Vermont. Confirmed In March 1839 he moved to Exeter, Maine, "to spend the remainder of his days with his son," and he died there on March 15, 1840. Likely

To Rutland

• George Oake of Westborough is placed at Rutland by the 1906 register, which says he lived there by 1769. Unconfirmed A George Oaks of Rutland marched on a Bennington alarm in August 1777. Likely

Beyond these moves

These are the family's moves, not a list of descendants. As far as the records found so far show, Hannah, Mary, Ann and the other Fay and Maynard families stayed near Westborough and Marlborough. The later generations who went on to Maine, New York and the West belong to other stories. Several branches come from the 1906 register alone, and they are marked that way.

Nathaniel's life, and the family story told about him, are in Nathaniel Oak and the cabin-boy story.