WILLIAM P. OAKES, PYMOSA TOWNSHIP.

The first of his family to try his fortunes in the New World, or at the least the part of it that is embraced within the borders of the State of Iowa, William P. Oakes, of Pymosa township, this county, has fully justified his right to a place in the ranks of the all-conquering army of industrial progress. Mr. Oakes was born in Cheshire, England, on April 19, 1841, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Pearson) Oakes, both of the same nativity as himself. They lived and died under the sky of their immediate nativity, the father passing away on the soil he had dignified by his labor in 1865. They were farmers, according to the meaning of the term in England, and prospered at the business. Their family comprised tow sons and two daughters, and of these William P. is the only one living. The ancestry of the family, on both sides, was English for many generations, and had a long unbroken record in the mother country for fidelity to duty and upright and independent citizenship.