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JOSHUA
OAKES SONS & COMPANY. One of
the large and important plants which give distinctive character to
the industrial activities of the Hanging Rock Iron Region is the
Joshua Oakes Sons & Company, manufacturers of drain tile and red
brick at Oakland in Green Township, Scioto County. The founder
of the business, who recently died, had a long and industrious
career in Scioto County, and belonged to one of the oldest families
of this region. He has been succeeded by his sons, who have
continued the clay product industry established nearly forty years
ago, and the business is now flourishing and one of more than local
importance. Joshua Oakes was born Jan. 11, 1826, at
Haverhill, Ohio, in Green Township of Scioto County, and in his
earlier days followed the Ohio River, working as a boatman and boat
manager along the Ohio. He was a man of versatile energy and
had much intiative and enterprise. An instance of this is the
fact that he bought the first circular caw mill used anywhere along
the Ohio Valley, and set it up and did considerable business in
manufacturing lumber for several years. Later he conducted the
ferry at Haverhill, and finally sold that and bought a farm a mile
and a half north of Haverhill, situated in lots 8 an d9 of the
French Grant. His purchase of that land was in 1858.
After farming for some years he and his sons established a tile and
brick yard in 1877. That plant has been enlarged and brought
to rank as a leading industry.
Joshua Oakes died Jan. 12, 1914, and his wife
passed away i 1900. There were eight children, seven of whom
are living: Mary, wife of Charles Austin; A.
D. Oakes; Oscar F. Oakes; Ella, widow of Capt. Sam Mathewson;
Elona R., wife of Fillmore Musser, cashier of the Ohio
Valley Bank at Portsmouth; Elmore, a farmer near McDermott,
Ohio; Frank Oakes. The sons, A. D., Oscar F. and
Frank, are now at the head of the brick and tile works.
A. D. Oaks married Hannah Austin, and
their eight children are all married and have established homes of
their own, excepting Floyd L. Oakes, who was skilled in an
accident at Martinsville, Indiana, July 7, 1815. Mr. Oakes is
a member of the Woodmen of the World, belongs to the Grange,
and he and his brothers are among the leading business men of Green
Township.
Source: A Standard History of The Hanging Rock
Iron Region of Ohio, Vol. II - Illustrated - Published by The Lewis
Publishing Company, 1916 - Page 986-987 |
Source: