JOSHUA OAKES.     Joshua Oakes was born at Haverhill, Scioto County, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1826.  His father, Ephraim Oakes, was born at Long Island, Feb. 1, 1796, and came to Ohio when about twenty-one years of age, being one of the early settlers, suffering the hardships incident to pioneer life, and in the course of time amassed a considerable fortune.  He lived to see a large family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren bear his name, dying at the ripe age of ninety-two.  Joshua Oakes, his eldest son, soon after attaining his majority, went to Illinois, where he operated a saw mill for three years.  Returning to Ohio, he purchased the ferry at Haverhill, running it for seven years, when in 1857 he bought a farm of two hundred acres in Green Township, on a portion of which he now resides.  On this land, in 1877, he erected the tile factory which has since grown to extensive proportions, and is one of the thriving enterprises of the county.
     Jan. 10, 1850, he was married to Temperance, daughter of Jesse Marshall and Mary Gervais Serot Marshall, who was born June 21, 1791, at the French Settlement at Gallipolis, and who has always been claimed by her relatives and descendants to have been the first white child born in that settlement.  Her parents, Marie Avaligne and Peter Serot, were married in Christ church, Alexandria, Va., just after landing in America.   In token of her being the first white child born, she was given two town lots and a half dozen solid silver teaspoons and table spoons, each inscribed with her baptismal name, "Mary Gervais," by the members of the French colony.
     Joshua Oaks and Temperance M. Oakes were the parents of eight children, all of whom are living: Mary C., the wife of Charles W. Austin, residing in Lawrence County, Ohio; A. Davis, Oscar F. and Frank E., residing on the home farm; Ella T., the wife of Samuel Matheson, residing at Charleston, West Virginia; Elona O., the wife of Filmore Musser, and A. Elmore, residing at Portsmouth, Ohio; and C. Henry residing at Yazoo city, Mississippi.  The mother passed to her reward, at the age of seventy-two years, on Mar. 10, 1901, after having celebrated with her husband, the fifty-first anniversary of their marriage.  Joshua Oakes is still vigorous in mind and body, is a practical farmer, a prosperous manufacturer, a good citizen and a kind parent.
Source:  History of Scioto Co., Ohio - Publ. 1903 - Page 797