A Father's Day Post, June 2025

A Father’s Day Post

While writing my novel, TO LIVE A PATRIOT, I often paused to consider the character of John Whitfield Newton Doak and how his identity might have been influenced by the fathers and grandfathers preceding him. 

Fathers matter. They provide us with nearly half of our DNA, influence our values, and often serve as our role models. But what occurs when a father is absent? John W.N. Doak’s father, Doctor John Newton Doak (1805-1840), passed away when he was just two years old. Despite this, John W. N. was aware from a young age that he had a significant legacy to uphold. His name, John Whitfield Newton, reflects this. His first middle name was inspired by the renowned evangelist of the first great awakening in the 1730s and 1740s, George Whitfield. His second middle name was derived from John Newton, the former slave trader who became an Anglican minister and composed the famous hymn Amazing Grace. 

Did the absence of a father and role model make him more eager to volunteer in the Civil War? Without a father, perhaps John W.N. Doak was particularly driven to demonstrate his “honorable manhood” and create a legacy of patriotism and devout Christianity for future generations. His letters clearly show that honor, duty, patriotism, faith, and his own legacy were very important to him. However, his son, John William Doak (1866-1922), never had the chance to get to know him. Two generations of Doak boys grew up without a father, leaving one to wonder about the impact on future generations.

But John W.N. Doak was keenly aware of the Doak ancestors who preceded him. The first Doak born and raised in America was John’s great-grandfather, the Reverend Samuel Doak (1749-1830), a Princeton-educated preacher and educator known as the “apostle of learning in the West.” As a young man, John attended Washington College in eastern Tennessee, a school founded by Reverend Doak. Undoubtedly, John would have been well-acquainted with his great-grandfather’s principles and legacy. Regionally renowned, Reverend Doak was a patriot preacher during the American Revolution. According to Log College Press: “On September 26, 1780, at the Sycamore Shoals muster, Rev. Samuel Doak led the Patriots in a religious service which has become legendary in American history: 

“My countrymen, you are about to set out on an expedition which is full of hardships and dangers, but one in which the Almighty will attend you. 

The Mother Country has her hands upon you, these American Colonies, and takes that for which our fathers planted their homes in the wilderness — OUR LIBERTY.”

(https://www.logcollegepress.com/blog/2022/9/25/samuel-doaks-1780-sycamore-shoals-muster-sermon-amp-prayer) 

Reverend Samuel Doak (1749-1830)

However, Reverend Doak soon recognized the hypocrisy of a free republic and nation that still included slavery in its legacy. Over time, Reverend Doak became increasingly disturbed by America’s original sin of slavery. He was an early abolitionist who believed that slavery was against God and contrary to the best ideals of the American republic. Reverend Doak was firm and unwavering in his call for immediate abolition, a highly unpopular stance in the early 1800s. He also educated several generations of Presbyterian ministers to speak out against slavery during a period when the issue was causing divisions within many congregations and across the entire nation. 

Reverend Doak trained dozens of abolitionist preachers including his own son, Reverend John Whitfield Doak (1778-1820.) Many "Doak trained" preachers spread throughout the West to advocate against slavery. The most notable among them was John Rankin (1793-1886), a station master on the Underground Railroad in Ripley, Ohio, and the husband of Reverend Samuel Doak’s granddaughter. Defying federal law and risking heavy fines and imprisonment, John Rankin "and his family are credited with assisting 2,000 slaves, proudly stating they 'never lost a passenger.' Harriet Beecher Stowe visited his home multiple times, and her character "Eliza" in Uncle Tom's Cabin was inspired by stories of aiding slaves she heard from the Rankin family." https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/rankin-house 

When President Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in the White House in 1862, legend has it he said: "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war." Clearly, Reverend Samuel Doak and Reverend John Rankin also played a role in bringing on this "great war," a war that would finally crush slavery.

And by the fall of 1862, when Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Corporal John W.N. Doak and his comrades in the Western Sharpshooters/66th Illinois Infantry were soon to join this crusade. Camped near Corinth, Mississippi, several of Corporal Doak's fellow soldiers in the Western Sharpshooters/66th Illinois—W.B. McCord, Howard McCord, and D.W. Brown—even joined the 1st Alabama of African Descent as officers. The regiment's chaplain, James M. Alexander, was also from Paris, Illinois, and became their colonel. Colonel James M. Alexander was a remarkable man, and Corporal Doak writes about him and his colored regiment approvingly in his letters. John W.N. Doak was an enthusiastic supporter of Black freedom, and he risked everything for the vision of America advocated by Reverend Samuel Doak and John Rankin: a nation that would no longer tolerate slavery.

By 1865, the abhorrent practice of human bondage was abolished. And I am very proud that my grandfathers--one as a preacher/educator, the other as a soldier--helped to achieve this. Yet, the scars of racism—manifested through racial injustice, discrimination, violence, and systemic inequality—persisted, plaguing America and causing suffering for people of color across many generations. How many more generations will endure this? Only God knows. I urge all true patriots to join the resistance until every trace of racism is eradicated from our political, economic, and social spheres. The moment has come for a "new birth of freedom" and a third Reconstruction.

As noted above, John W.N. Doak’s son, John William Doak, never knew him. John William was, however, well educated by his mother Emma Guthrie and I am sure she shared stories with him about his father. In fact, Emma and her son were very close, Emma Guthrie was John William’s only teacher until he went to Paris High School, graduating in 1884 in a class of nineteen. John William Doak was a lawyer and a justice of the peace in Paris, IL. He also owned several hundred acres of farmland in Edgar County. Along with his wife Nelle Mae McCarty Doak (1870-1951), an assistant principal at Paris High School, John William Doak raised five children, including my grandfather Samuel Doak. 

John William Doak (1866-1922)

After his mother's death in 1917, John William Doak apparently still had unresolved questions about his father. In 1918, he contacted H.M. Doak, his father's first cousin, seeking information. H.M. Doak explained in a letter dated June 24, 1918, that he did not know John W.N. well, but he was very familiar with his older brother William. H.M. had shared a room with William for a time when they were both students at Tusculum College.

Unfortunately, as a young man, H.M. made the tragic and horrific mistake of siding with the pro-slavery Confederacy. In 1861 he enlisted in the 19th Tennessee Infantry. In the same 1918 letter H.M. refers to the Battle of Shiloh, a battle in which both he and his cousin John W.N. Doak fought: “‘Twas a tough battle, especially Sunday, the mortality very high, although fought entirely by raw troops on our side and mostly on the Federal side. I was wounded near the close of Monday’s fight, in the third and last charge made on a hotly worked battery with large infantry support.” (H.M. Doak is a minor character in the novel. But it's no wonder the Civil War lasted so long—there were Doaks fighting on both sides!) 

My grandfather, Samuel Doak (1901-1972), was the second child and eldest son of John William Doak. Samuel was an Edgar County farmer who lived south of Paris and was married to Minnie Smith from Kansas (1907-1991), whom I remember fondly. (During childhood visits in the early 1970s she would welcome me with a loud “Owen Charlie!” and shower me with hugs and kisses.) My grandfather passed away when I was about three, so my memories of him are unclear. His obituary in the Paris Beacon News stated that he “was a prominent livestock farmer, had raised Morgan horses in past years, and was a member of the Edgar County Farm Bureau. He was also interested in genealogy and was a member of the Edgar County Historical Society, as well as the Presbyterian Church.”

Beyond that I have come to understand that my grandfather was very much a “Jeffersonian Republican,” a man who believed that farming was the only honest way to make a living. Farmer Samuel Doak had strong opinions, was fiercely independent, and consistently believed in small government. Clearly, father's and son's political views can change significantly over the course of a generation or two. While farmer Samuel Doak was a staunch Jeffersonian Republican, his Civil War grandfather was every bit a Lincoln Republican. Make no mistake, those are two very different kinds of Republicans.

This reminds me of a story that sheds light on my grandfather's political views during the Great Depression. While most farmers appreciated FDR's initiatives and saw their average income increase by 240% (!) from 1933 to 1935, my grandfather grew to despise FDR and his New Deal. He was especially frustrated with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, which sought to increase crop prices by limiting farmers' production. As described in a 1995 article in the Illinois Historical Journal:

Samuel Doak, the author's grandfather, 1940.

“In Paris, Illinois, farmer Sam Doak was fined $3.00 and court costs of $8.40 after striking John W. Barry, the chairman of the Edgar County Farm Bureau. Doak’s Scots-Irish temper was riled because his acreage allotment turned out to be only fifty-six acres of corn on his six hundred acre farm. His neighbor was allowed the same quota for 160 acres. Shortly after Doak was found guilty of the attack on Barry, a new chapter of the Corn Belt Liberty League sprang up in Edgar County. Doak’s daughters, Frances Webb and Catherine Griffin, do not remember their father mentioning the Corn Belt Liberty League, but they do remember the punching incident. They recall that a number of letters came to their home after the Chicago Tribune picked up the story. One letter, according to Griffin, included $5.00 with a note saying: “Take this five dollars for your trouble and go hit him again for me.”” (Sommer, Lynnita Aldridge. “Illinois Farmers in Revolt: The Corn Belt Liberty League.” Illinois Historical Journal 88, no. 4 (1995): 222–40. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40192980. )

I recall my father sharing a version of the above story with pride, presenting our grandfathers' actions as justified. Meanwhile, my mother would shake her head, saying, “No, no kids. Never resort to violence.” Personally, my mother’s perspective prevailed for me. 

Samuel and Minnie Doak, their four children and nieces, south of Paris, IL spring 1940. The author's father "Sammy" is in between Samuel Doak and the well. Frances Doak Webb is to the left of Minnie Doak. Catherine Griffin is on the far right.

This leads me to my father, Samuel Doak, who was born in 1935. The picture above shows him as a four-year-old on the family farm with his parents, three sisters, and three cousins who had just escaped France at the onset of World War II. Although my father pursued a career as a civil engineer and moved away from farm life, those who knew both my father and grandfather often describe their remarkably similar life and political philosophies. Growing up, it seemed my father wanted to raise us kids as he had been raised, with a large garden and an emphasis on growing, catching, or hunting much of our food. I didn't always appreciate this lifestyle. It was unusual to live this way in the heart of the Quad Cities, but we often ate homegrown fruits and vegetables from our garden and regularly had catfish, rabbit, squirrel, and deer for dinner. None of my friends in Rock Island experienced a similar upbringing. In high school, my friends were astonished when I had deer heart sandwiches for an entire week. Actually were not bad, kind of like gamey roast beef, especially tasty with mayonnaise and mustard. 

Without question I am very different from my farmer grandfather and my civil engineer father. We have strikingly different ideologies, political views, and life experiences. But a shared passion for history unites my grandfather, my father, and me. Growing up in Rock Island, I was immersed in history, and my father encouraged us to experience and learn a lot of it. For example, Rock Island was initially the site of Black Hawk’s village, Saukenauk. In fact, Black Hawk was born and lived perhaps a hundred yards from my childhood home. In the 1970s, my father took us to pow-wows at Black Hawk State Park when the Sauk and Fox would return to their ancestral land. In addition we learned that Abraham Lincoln visited Rock Island as a lawyer for the railroad in the Effie Afton steamboat case. We even had a large portrait of the Effie Afton crash in our basement.  Above all, when I was a child my father was a man of action, always busy. In my youth, he juggled two jobs, working approximately 60-70 hours each week without a single complaint. Despite his demanding schedule, he often found time to take us fishing, canoeing, or mushroom hunting. Sundays were reserved for attending mass and family time; my father converted to Catholicism before marrying my mother. During the summer, we would sometimes take day trips to Maquoketa Caves or Wild Cat Den. My father also plays the violin and harmonica by ear, effortlessly picking out melodies, sometimes with me accompanying him on my acoustic guitar. In the 1990s and deep into the 2000s he was a world traveler, taking many trips with my mother; one trip took them around the world. He was also a Rotarian, and helped run a bed and breakfast inn from 1985 to around 2015. My sister-in-law has described him as the “modern, living embodiment of a Renaissance man.” 

Even with his hectic schedule, he managed to find the time to accomplish something significant in 1986. He dedicated time to help organize and produce copies of binders containing historic reprints of John W. N. Doak’s Civil War letters, ensuring their preservation for my generation and for those to come. As he wrote in the forward: “This little book is a collection of love letters, stored away for years in the old roll-top desk of their only son, John William Doak, later passed on to his son Samuel Doak, and finally to me... My great-grandfather was a hero, a patriot who loved his country, one of Uncle Sam’s boys, as he said, who would not go home until the war was won in the west.” 

Thank you, Dad, for everything you have done. 

Eleven children, thirty grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren, and at least two great-great-grandchildren. As the reader already knows, my great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War. There are at least two young children who can say, “My great-great-grandfather lives in Rock Island.” This would make them the great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren of John W.N. Doak. Incredible.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad! You've been an amazing role model, and I'm thankful to still have you in my life. 

Owen C. Doak

June 13th, 2025