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William Oak of Bolton and Winchendon

William Oak was the elder son of Nathaniel Oake Jr. and his first wife, Tabitha Rice, baptized at Westborough on April 21, 1728 ("Nathaniel Oake ownd ye Covt & William his Son was baptized"; the register prints April 28), and the brother of Seth Oak. He married Relief Whitcomb at Bolton in 1752, went to war against the French, and settled on Miller's River at Winchendon, where his oldest son drowned within sight of the house and where he died, insolvent, before he was fifty.

Bolton, Templeton and the French war

Bolton recorded the marriage of William and "Releaf Whetcomb" in 1752. The 1906 register calls her "daughter of William and Hepzibah (Sawyer); born Lancaster, February 29, 1736," and says William "received at marriage a small legacy from his grandmother Rice; and his wife inherited some property from her father." Their first children were born at Bolton from 1753. In 1757, the register says, "he removed from Bolton to Narragansett No. 6 (Templeton) where he bought a farm of 80 acres," and a daughter was born there "In Narragansett No. 6" in 1760.

The register records his war: "From April 7, 1759, sending his family to Bolton, he served 10 months and 28 days against the French and Indians in the company of Capt. Samuel Clark, Col. Ruggles." No roll of that service has yet been found, and the same length of service, with a Capt. Ruggles, appears on a 1781 roll of a different William Okes, so the register's figure may have been copied from the wrong record (see Oak-line military service). His inventory, the register adds, included "Mr. Miller's Sermon on the Totel Reduction of Canada"—"recalling his experience in the French war."

Winchendon

In 1763-64, the register says, "he sold his Templeton property for £160, and bought for £104 a farm in Ipswich, Canada, later Winchendon, where he was one of the early settlers." The farm "was on both sides of Miller's River," and his house stood "east of the bridge and long causey." Seth bought part of his brother's land in 1767-70 and lived "west of the bridge." Winchendon's town history by A. P. Marvin puts the brothers on either bank: in 1771 the town chose a committee "to rebuild the long bridge over the river between the two Mr. Oaks', who lived on either side—a mile beyond Waterville," and a later resident's house "was the Oaks place" (History of Winchendon, 1868, pp. 136 and 445).

That spring brought the family's worst loss. Their son William, born at Bolton on November 18, 1753, "was drowned in the spring flood of Miller's River, near his home and in sight of his mother," on April 9, 1771. "Robert Moffat was in the boat with him, and the two lads were buried side by side in the Old Central Burying Ground" (register, page 26).

"By reason of failing health and financial troubles," the register says, William "sold 1767-72 to Kinsmen and others all his land except the home lot, which also the family had to give up after his death, as the estate proved insolvent." Worcester County's probate docket enters "William Oaks, Winchendon" with a warrant of appraisal on October 26, 1774, and "Relief Oak appointed Administratrix" (bond May 6, 1777). Relief married again on April 4, 1783, Samuel Patrick ("properly Fitzpatrick"), "a prosperous farmer and town-clerk of Fitzwilliam, N. H.," and died at Fitzwilliam in 1824. The register counted about 500 descendants of William.

The children

The register lists nine children (pages 26-28). Besides William, two daughters died young. Kezia married Samuel Blood; "they are said to have belonged to a Shaker community in Massachusetts before settling in New York." Abigail married Nathaniel Wilson, one of the first settlers of Fitzwilliam, and had no children; "by Abigail's will the income of her estate was left to an adopted son of her husband and his descendants, the property to go finally to the town of Winchendon for the support of Sundays Schools. The last of the descendants dying in 1893, the town came into possession of the bequest." Hepzibah married, second, Ensign Timothy Cook, and through her son had "many descendants in another branch—that of Beriah."

Three sons went west. Joel "went to Ohio in 1787 and took an active part in the various Indian wars, his services as scout being especially valued"; he was with General Putnam's expedition to the Muskingum (Marietta) in 1787-88, settled at Newbury below Belpré, was at "Farmers' Castle" in 1792, and from 1794 was "associated... with Griffith Grimes in salt enterprises and discovery of the Scioto salines." Abraham went from Fitzwilliam to Whitestown, New York, in 1791, bought a farm in the township from which Bridgewater was set off, "held various town offices, especially in connection with the schools; and was an influential member of the Congregational church from 1804." Ephraim, also of Bridgewater, "bought 250 acres of land in 1796, and held minor town offices; but was for many years in bad health."

What is missing

The French-war service, the land purchases and sales and the drowning rest on the register and on Winchendon's town history; the deeds and the inventory itself have not yet been examined. The family tree gives this William the death date of April 9, 1771, which is his son's.

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