PDF page 88, printed page 80

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Scan of page 88 of the 1906 Oak family register
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80
HENRY LEBBEUS OAK
Mr. Oak wrote Mr. Bancroft, calling his attention to long unful-
filled promises, and asked
financial
help.
Anticipating that Mr.
Bancroft did not intend "making good," Mr. Oak had prepared
the data, showing
his share and that of the other collaborators
of Mr. Bancroft
in
the work published
as Mr.
Bancroft's own,
and unwisely made
the
printing
of that record
the
alternative
for Mr.
Bancroft
to
consider.
In
his
pamphlet,
"Literary
In-
dustries
in
a New
Light," Mr. Oak
prints both
his
letter and
Mr.
Bancroft's
brutal
reply,
from which
I
quote,
"I
doubt
if
authors are
in the habit of giving their employees any credit at
all," ttc.
The foregoing
is
written not
to
eulogize my brother nor
to
defame Mr. Bancroft.
Each has made his record and no one can
change
it.
But I believe
it my duty to place on record the detail
and extent of my brother's work.
Of the two bound copies of
his historical writing, one
is in Dartmouth College Library, and
one
I
have.
Of the pamphlet,
"Literary
Industries
in a New
Light," only a dozen or so were printed, and they are distributed
among the historical societies and colleges of the Pacific Coast.
This genealogical record
will be more widely
scattered, and
it
is hoped will
fall
into appreciative hands and his memory kept
green by the family whose record he has done so much to pre-
serve.
I
shall
at
least
feel
that
I have placed on record some
facts no one else could have supplied.
Of his
life
after leaving San Francisco, Mr. Oak says
in
his
autobiography
:
"Of course, his health broke down; he could no longer sleep;
and having completed his task and saved a few thousand dollars
he resolved to give up his
little fight for fame and fortune and
transfer his hermit life—for such
it had been even in a great city
—to the mountains.
Accordingly
in
1887 he
settled
at
Siegler
Springs, where a
little later he built a cabin, and where he has
lived with some degree of contentment—his companions being
for the most part his books and pipe—ever since.
His little capi-
tal constantly dwindled
; but he hopes
it may suffice for his small
needs to the end.
From
1891 he has spent his time and
all the
money he could spare in the preparation of this genealogic record,
undertaken
at
first as a pastime and agreeable reminder of past
historical
research, and
continued with an
idea
that somebody
some time may deem
it a work worth while having been done."
After eight years of wonderful success in tracing the genealogic
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