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4 OAK—OAKS—OAKES Isolated in the mountains of California, the writer has been obliged to rely on personal correspondence for the later genera- tions ; and for the earlier ones largely on the services of agents who have searched for him the archives and libraries. It is hoped that the record will compare favorably in accuracy with similar works. Doubtless there are errors. Correspondents are not al- ways sufficiently careful. Searchers and copyists are by no means infallible. Records, civil and religious, often disagree. Relatives and friends give varying versions of a date or fact, and even the compiler has been known to make mistakes. To members of the family who as a rule have promptly ans- wered my queries, several in each branch collecting material outside of their immediate connections, and especially to the older women of the tribe—most enthusiastic and helpful of all— my hearty thanks are due. This record includes descendants in the female lines, a feature generally disapproved by genealogists. The writer is unable to admit the force of any objection he has heard. The distinction between male and female lines is purely an artificial one, resulting from the custom of children taking the father's name. Every descendant of the sixth generation is as fully an Oak as the writer. In life for the few generations personally known to each individual we make no distinction in our feelings between the children of sons and daughters. On these ties during life are founded our feelings toward generations beyond our knowl- edge, both past and future. Why in either case should we reject the female lines if we care for the family at all? OTHER OAKS IN AMERICA. It is estimated that the Oaks in the United States may be divided into four nearly equal classes. First, the family here recorded. Second, the well-known and widely scattered Cam- bridge-Maiden-North Yarmouth family, descendants of Thomas and Edward Oakes, who immigrated before 1640 and best known through Rev. Uriah, an early president of Harvard College. Third, the descendants of \Yiniam, a traditional immigrant from Wales, and whose sons William and probably John lived in Wor- cester County, Massachusetts, at the same time as our ancestors. They were doubtless remote kinsmen. Fourth, a miscellaneous class,- the largest element of which sprang from German immigrants settling in New York and Penn- sylvania, writing the name originally Och or Ochs. It is notable that in his voluminous correspondence the writer has found no descendants of any of the few Oaks named by Sav- age except Nathaniel, Edward and Thomas.