Boak, Samantha Payne (1829-1927)

BOAK, PAYNE, HAYDEN, QUACKENBUSH, HOWARD, CARPENTER

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 2/10/2017 at 15:25:13

Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, Iowa, Tuesday, November 22, 1927

Mrs. W. W. Boak, 98 Years of Age, Is Dead

AGED WOMAN WHO CAME HERE IN 1854 IS DEAD

Mrs. W. W. Boak, Almost 98 Years of Age, Passes Quietly Away at Her Home

FUNERAL NOT FIXED

Was Pioneer Settler Here in Days When City Was New Castle

Mrs. W. W. Boak, probably the oldest person in Hamilton county, died at her home, 108 Des Moines street, at 1:30 p.m. today. If she had lived until Dec. 4, she would have been 98 years old. A daughter, Mrs. Elva Howard, lived with her.

No funeral plans have been made, as word is being awaited from relatives.

Mrs. Boak had been in failing health for several years. The last month her condition had been more serious, and for the last two weeks she had been critically ill.

Mrs. Boak was one of Hamilton county's best known and most respected pioneers. She, with her husband, who died many years ago, came to the county in 1854. Mr. Boak homesteaded the farm just north of the city which is familiar to everyone as "the Boak farm." At that time Webster City was a mere hamlet and was known as "New Castle."

The Boak family were leaders in the early pioneer community and during all their active years, both Mr. and Mrs. Boak were prominently identified with all that stood for the good and the progress of the community.

Mrs. Boak, of course, had been inactive for some years, due to her advanced age. Until comparatively recently, however, she took an active interest in all that went on about her and was cheery and in fairly good health. In her passing the county and community has lost one of its most beloved pioneers--one to whom the advancement of her community and the good of all was always paramount.

Webster City Freeman, Webster City, Iowa, Monday, November 28, 1927

Mrs. W. W. Boak, whose maiden name was Samantha K. Payne, was the daughter of Jacob W. and Rebecca E. Payne, and was born in Philadelphia, Monroe county, eastern Tennessee, on Dec. 4, 1829. At 11 years of age, she moved with her parents to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; where in 1849 she was united in marriage with William Wesley Boak. In 1854 she and her husband moved to this community, then called New Castle and a part of Webster county, and Mr. Boak purchased government land in section 19, three miles north of Webster City, and later purchased other land adjoining, and on this farm they made their home and reared their family in what was then a frontier community.

That farm is still owned by the family. In 1892 they left the farm and moved to the present home on the corner of Des Moines and Odell streets in Webster City, where Mr. Boak died in 1901. Mrs. Boak remained with us as a splendid exemplar of pioneer fortitude, endurance and sterling worth until, on Nov. 22, 1927, she entered into eternal rest after 98 years of life without fear, without reproach; but not without the respect and affection of all who touched her life.

And that life compassed the most wonderful 100 years this world has ever known. When she was born there was not a railroad in America which now has over a quarter million miles of iron trackage. When she was born no man had seen a common match but relied on flint and steel for fire. When she was born envelopes and stamps were unknown and postage was paid by the receiver. When she was born grain was cut with the scythe and threshed with the flail and the ox and the ox yoke were common in the fields. Her life reaches from the stage coach to the Twentieth Century Limited; from the hand sickle to the combined harvester and thresher; from the ox team to the five-ton tractor; from the town crier to the radio broadcaster; from John Quincy Adams to Calvin Coolidge; from George Stephenson, the inventor of the locomotive to Charles Lindbergh, the lone eagle of the Atlantic.

It was a marvelous century and a wonderful life. In the ranks of the pioneers there was no more tireless or valiant soldier than she, full of kindness and good works, and many are the old settlers who remember her with gratitude and affection. And her sons and daughters do her honor -- Helen (Boak) Hayden of Santa Barbara, California; Sarah (Boak) Quackenbush of Webster City; Ilo I. Boak of Denver, Colo; Cady C. Boak of Tonopah, Nevada, and Elva (Boak) Howard of Webster City. Another daughter, Atta A. (Boak) Carpenter, died in 1921 and four other children died in infancy.

The surviving children and grandchildren can rejoice with all who knew her in the memory of one who was a "Mother in Israel" in the trials and hardships of the frontier, and adorned life in all its higher aspects while she gave freely of her time and strength to assist those in need. It was a long life, a noble life, lived to the full, and when the days of her years were almost five score and the shadows of life's twilight gathered round her, calm-eyed and unafraid, with doubts and fears unfelt because unknown, her conscience void of offense, her heart as full of love as her life had been of kindly deeds, she faced the darkness that precedes the eternal dawn, serene and confident, with unfaltering faith that:
"There is no death;
The stars go down
To rise upon some fairer shore."