Elaine Doak Notes on Doak Family

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Elaine M Doak (1942-2010) Special Collections Librarian/Archivist Pickler Memorial Library Truman State University, Kirksville, MO has put a lot of time into research, some of which follows:

"Here's what we've got on the 1st couple of Doak generations in America. There are basically 2 versions of the "transitional" generations.

One is that Samuel Doak, who remained in Ireland, had a son James who came to PA w/ wife Elizabeth and several children almost any year between 1720 & 1740 (depending on which source you read).

The other version is that Samuel himself was the immigrant, same time span. I have yet to see any PROOF of either version. The truth is that we have no idea who the father of the group I call the "immigrant generation" was.

My brother & I went to Chester & Lancaster Cos PA summer before last & came up w/ a lot of nothing -- except more questions.

• Some records cited by earlier researchers do not exist.
• Those that do exist do not prove that the Doak family in that area during the 1720-40 time period was the same Doak family to later settle in Augusta Co VA.
• There are some similarities of given names which COULD indicate they are our Virginians, but they could also indicate they are the Doaks who are to be found a few years later further north in PA.
• We did find a James Doke who signed a 1729 petition to create Lancaster Co out of Chester Co. This was the only reference to James we found. It's curious that while Doaks seem to repeat given names over & over, there are no Jameses in the Augusta Co group. That's not proof of anything; it's just an observation.

Some published sources cite a 1727 Chester Co Orphan's Roll which mentions Elizabeth Doak & son David. The County Archivist tells us that all records where were extant as late as about 1900 are still there but this particular entry could not be found. What was the REAL source of the original citation? Also, if Elizabeth's husband was James why would she & her son appear on an orphan's roll 2 years before he signed the 1729 petition? BTW, an orphan is a child whose father is deceased; the mother could still be living.

We found a 1726 tax roll listing John Doak & Mother (again, no father?), but the name Elizabeth does not appear there or on any record we could find in either county.

The "immigrant generation" of siblings was Samuel, John, David (the youngest, probably born here), Thankful, Mary, Ann, & Robert.

• I think there may be a couple more names added to various versions; I seem to have forgotten to bring the list w/ me today.
• Of that group, we found POSSIBLE mention of John & Samuel in PA.
• We were unable to find Thankful's marr to John Finley which is supposed to be there, but PA didn't require marr licenses or bonds till the 1850s, so if the record is there it's probably in some church's files. It would be impossible to cover all of these lines, so I'm going to stick to ours.

It is highly unlikely that "Immigrant Sam", as we call him, and Jane Mitchell were married during the voyage from Ireland as is so often reported.

If the Doaks in Lancaster Co were ours, they were there as early as 1726 when John & mother appeared on the tax roll. (We're assuming, of course, that this John and our Sam were brothers.)

• John also appears on 1733 & 1734 grand jury panels. *The earliest record we found of Samuel was 1737, when he also was on the grand jury, so it's possible he immigrated as late as 1736 (even tho this was a lot later than mother & brother).
• Sam's wife was Jane (confirmed by his Will), supposedly the daughter of Thomas & Eleanor Mitchell of Lancaster Co (not proved).
• If Jane was, in fact, Thomas & Eleanor's dau, evidence exists to suggest she was unmarried & living in her father's home in Lancaster at the time of his death--still unmarried AFTER the voyage.
• Thomas's Will (Lancaster Co Will Book A, Vol 1, pg 17) does not say she is unmarried, but seems to imply such by naming part of the family's livestock as hers, not her husband's. It also does not list her w/ the Doak surname. All this is strictly circumstantial, of course.

1736 has been reported as Sam & Jane's marriage date; that seems to be in the ball park (their first child was born ca 1738) but it would have been in PA, not aboard ship. This is likely an unprovable date, as are their dates of birth.

• The Sam on the grand jury in 1737 had to have been at least 21, therefore born no later than 1716.
• Sam & Jane moved to VA ca 1739; he sold his property in Lancaster no later than May of that year and began to appear in August Co records as early as 1740.
• His August Co property in Beverley Manor borders the west side of the present-day village of Greenville.
• Sam died there between 5 Nov 1771 and 19 May 1772, the dates his Will were written & proved in Court (Augusta Co Will Book 4, pg 497).

The Will lists the following family members:

• "Jane my Dearly beloved Wife...
• Daughters viz Elinor, Mary & Isabel...
• son John...
• oldest son David...
• son Robert...
• daughters Jane and Elizabeth...
• son in law William Brown...
• brother in law John Finley...

"You may read in the course of your research about a controversy over the wording of Sam's Will as copied to the Will Book, which reads "brothers in law John Finley and John Tate". While the word brother is plural, the "s" is in a different handwriting & different ink.

• Some say the plural proves the marriage of Sam's sister Mary to John Tate.
• When or why the "s" was added I don't know, but added it was.
• Since the original Will no longer exists, we don't know if the addition was an honest attempt to correct to record book to the actual wording of the Will or if it was added at a later date to prove the Doak-Tate marriage (as some suggest).
• Lyman Chalkley did not pick it up in his 1911 abstracts which gives one the idea it may have been added during the 20th Century."

Notes: Obituary for Elaine Doak

Elaine Doak was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma October 16, 1942. The daughter of a United Methodist minister, she lived in a number of communities in Oklahoma and North Texas before graduating from Muskogee, Oklahoma High School in 1960. After being awarded an Associates degree from Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri in 1962, she completed her undergraduate studies by earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Methodist University in 1966 with a major in Sociology. She received a Masters degree in Business Administration from Oklahoma City University in 1978 and a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of Oklahoma in 1990. Since 1993 she has been a librarian and Archivist at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. At the time of her death she was head of Special Collections and Archives and Acting Curator of the University’s Museums. She had a long standing interest in genealogy in general and of her own heritage in particular and spent many hours in churches, county court houses, and graveyards gathering information about her family roots. ^[1]

Elaine passed away October 17, 2010 leaving behind a sister; Jane Butcher, Harrah, Oklahoma; two brothers, Fred Doak, Oklahoma City and Bascom Doak, Enid, Oklahoma; as well as 4 nieces and 3 nephews. ^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Obituary for Elaine M. Doak Accessed 13 August 2022