STANDARD ATLAS
OF
SCOTT COUNTY, ILLINOIS
1903
Geo. A. Ogle & Co.Publishers & Engravers
134 Van Buren St.
Chicago
Page 127
This gentleman may justly be said to be the "daddy" of Bluffs. He was there long before Bluffs was even thought of and laid out the original plat of the village. Twenty acres of land from the Henry Oakes farm were set apart for town purposes, and a little later Mr. Oakes laid out the first addition (comprising ten acres) to the village of Bluffs. Henry Oakes, Sr., is a son of Henry and Mary (Green) Oakes, and was born September 3, 1848, on the farm where Bluffs not stands. His father, Henry Oakes, was born in Scioto county, Ohio, September 3, 1817. He early in life came west and settled in the present Bluffs neighborhood and there married Miss Mary Green. She was a native of England and was born March 14, 1826. Henry Oakes died at the Oakes homestead, December 18, 1864. Mrs. Oakes is now living at Jacksonville, Illinois. They were the parents of six children, three of whom are now living, and our subject was the third child.
Henry Oakes, Sr., was educated in the neighborhood where he lived, and on September 28, 1870, was married to Miss Emeline Richardson, who lived at the Point, near Jacksonville. To this union three children were born, viz: Henry Oakes, Jr., born October 15, 1873; Estella Castle, born January 10, 1876, and Royal Oakes, born October 24, 1881. On October 26, 1886, Mrs. Oakes died and on December 28, 1887, Mr. Oakes was married to Miss Mary E. Thompson. To them were born - Emeline, October 11, 1889, and Helen, November 20, 1899.
In the spring of 1871 Mr. Oakes laid out the town of Bluffs, and later platted an addition to the original tract. In 1881, in company with his brother, Charles Oakes, he embarked in the grain business, under the firm name of H. & C. Oakes. They have a branch establishment at Riggston, but maintain their principal office at Bluffs. Aside from his interests in the grain business Henry Oakes, Sr., as a farmer and stock feeder, has been more than successful and is deriving nice returns from his investments. He was a farmer before he went into the grain business and feels that he desires yet to give considerable attention to that line of business. Mr. Oakes is one of the true blue democrats of Bluffs and is one of its leading citizens who may be depended upon at all times to stand manfully by the town of his creation. He had faith in the future of the town at the time he set apart the twenty acres of his farm for town purposes, and its growth and development has fully justified that faith.