Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/121

 OAKES

GATES

OAKES, Urian, educator, was born in England about 1631 ; son of Edward and Jane Oakes. His parents immigrated to America in 1634, and set- tled in Cambridge, Mass., where he fitted for college and engaged in preparing and publishing astronomical calculations. He was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1649, A.M., 1653, and was a fellow of Harvard. le.'jO-SS, pursuing a course in theology. He was ordained pastor of the church at Roxbury, Mass., but after ministering there for a short time, returned to England, where he was a minis- ter at Titchfield, Hampshire, until 1662. In the latter year he was deprived of his living and for- bidden to preach, by the Bartholomew act, and was made master of the school at Southwark. On the death of the Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, July 9, 1668, he was called to the church in Cam- bridge, Mass., but the death of his wife and a personal illness delayed his return to America and his ordination until Nov. 8, 1671. He was made fi'eeman in 1672, and preached the annual election sermon in 1673. He was a fellow of Harvard, 1672-73, resigned, Sept. 15, 1673, and took an important part in the contro- vei'sy that led to the resigna- tion of President Leonard Hoar in 1674. He declined re-election as a fellow until March 15, 1674, the day on which President Hoar resigned, when he was ap- pointed to succeed him, and entered into office as acting president, April 7, 1675. He declined, however, to accept the full presidency until Feb. 2, 1679-80, when he was inaugurated, serving until his death. He married Ruth, daughter of William Ames. He published : Astronomical Cal- culations (1650); An Artillery Sermon {\iS12) ; An Election Sermon (1673); An Elegy on the Death of the Rev. Thomas Shepard of Cliarlestoim (1677), and other sermons. He died in Cam- bridge, Mass., July 25, 1681.

OAKLEY, Thomas Jackson, jurist, was born in Duchess county, N. Y., in 1783. He was gradua- ted at Yale in 1801, was admitted to the bar in 1804, and settled in practice in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He was surrogate of Duchess county, 1810-12 ; a Federalist representative in the 13th congress, 1813-15 ; a member of the state assem- bly in 1816, 1818 and 1820 ; attorney-general of the state, 1819 ; was elected a Clinton Democratic representative to the 20th congress in 1826, and resigned his seat in congress in 1828, having been appointed judge of the newly-organized superior court of New York city. When the court was reorganized in 1846 under the new constitution, he was elected the chief-justice

and held the office until his death. He received the degree LL.D. from Union college in 1853. He died in New York city, May 11, 1857.

OATES, William Calvin, governor of Alabama, was born in Pike county, Ala., Dec. 1, 1835 ; son of William and Sarah (Sellers) Gates ; grandson of Stephen Gates and of Mathew Sellers, and a descendant of Welsh ancestors on the paternal side, and of Irish and French ancestors on the maternal side. His father, a native of South Carolina, removed to Montgomery, Ala., in 1828 and soon after to Pike county, where be became a planter, and married in 1834. William led a roving life in Louisiana and Texas, 1851-55, en- gaged in teaching school in Henry county, Ala., attended the high school at Lawrenceville, and studied law in Eufaula, Ala., 1855-58. He was admitted to the bar in the winter of 1858-59, and practised in Abbeville, 1859-61. He edited a Democratic newspaper in 1860, and in 1861 entered the Confederate army, as captain in the 15th Alabama infantry. He served in twenty-seven of the forty engagements of this regiment and commanded the regiment from the battle of Sharpsburg vmtil he was transfeiTed to the 48tli Alabama infantry, July 1, 1864, having been in-omoted colonel in April, 1863. He was wounded six times and lost his right arm at Fussell's Mills, near Richmond, Va., Augl6, 1864, which prevented his further advancement in the army. He resumed his law practice in Abbeville in 1865 ; was a delegate to the Democratic national convention in New York in 1868 ; a rep- resentative in the Alabama legislature, 1870-72, serving as chairman of the committee on ways and means, and was chairman of the judiciary committee of the state constitutional convention of 1875. He was married, March 28, 1882, to Sallie, daughter of Col. Washington Toney of Eufaula. He was a Democratic representative from the third Alabama district in the 47th-53d congresses, 1891-94, resigning in November, 1894, on being elected governor of the state, which office he held, 1895-96. He was a candidate for U.S. senator in 1897, but was defeated by the Free Silver wing of the party, , was commissioned by Presi- dent McKinley brigadier-gen- eral of U.S. volunteers, May 28, 1898, and served in the Spanish-American war. He was elected from the state at large a delegate to the Alabama constitutional convention in April, 1901, in wliich body he had a leading part during its four months' session. He engaged in the practice of his profession in Montgomery, Ala.