 SIR HARRY OAKES was born in Sangerville, Maine on
December 23, 1874. His parents subsequently moved to Foxcroft, Maine to
enable their boys to attend high school.
Upon graduation, Harry, a quiet,
dreamy boy entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. At school, he was
an able and self assured student, yet he remained a loner, preferring the
company of nature to that of friends. After attending Syracuse Medical
School for two years, Harry found the cloying routine intolerable to his
free spirit. At 23, Harry Oakes, scholar and country gentleman, departed
for Kirkland Lake, Ontario in search of gold.
Twenty years later, Harry found
the Lake Shore Mines, the second richest strike in the Western Hemisphere.
The "boy dreamer of Bowdoin" had hardened over the years, forgetting the
culture and gentility of his upbringing.
A millionaire fifty times over
and unaccustomed to the good life, Harry rapidly grew bored. In search of
amusement, he embarked on a world cruise. It was then, he met Eunice
McIntyre, a beautiful Australian girl who became one of the few people
able to penetrate Harry's frontier mannerisms and reawaken his former
gentleness and trust. On June 30, 1923, in Sydney, Australia, they were
married and returned to his Canadian estate at Kirkland Lake.
In 1924, Harry Oakes became a Canadian citizen for
business reasons. He took an interest in Canadian politics, contributing
handsomely to various political interests. In 1930, he made a generous
contribution to the Liberal party, with the understanding that in the
event of a Liberal victory, he would be rewarded with a lifetime
Senatorial appointment. However, the Conservatives won and, with a certain
degree of malice, levied taxes totaling $250,000 upon Harry for land and
parks he had already given the nation. This, along with the new taxation
levied on gold mines formed the basis for his decision to change his
citizenship a second time.
The family moved to Nassau,
Bahamas, acquiring the Westbourne Estate. Harry still desired to replace
his unfulfilled Canadian appointment, so he moved to London, England,
where he joined the best clubs and contributed heavily where it counted
most. His philanthropy paid off. On June 8, 1939, King George included him
on the Birthday Honors list and the Maine Yankee was a Baronet. In later
years, Lady Oakes and and the children preferred to summer at their
Bar Harbor cottage, joined frequently by Sir Harry.
On July 7, 1943, Harry was
brutally and mysteriously slain in the bedroom of his Nassau home. Alfred
DeMarigny, husband of Sir Harry's eldest daughter, Nancy, was tried for
the murder but acquitted. The killing of the millionaire who rose to a
Baronetcy and a seat in the House of Assembly of the Bahamas, remains to
this day an unsolved mystery...
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Sir Harry Oakes
From local boy to baronet,
the
colorful life of Sir Harry Oakes.
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