Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: KHWY-9CR
• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 23312211

Notes:

From FindaGrave:

According to the Ancestral File at familysearch.org, William Pitt Oakes was born 8 Mar 1833 in Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine to William Oakes & Mary Weymouth, married Edith N Lewis 12 Aug 1869 in Sangerville, died 1 Feb 1913 and is buried in Dover Cemetery, Piscataquis, Maine.

1850 census of Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine p182-183: William Oakes, 3rd, age 17, born in Maine, listed with parents, William, Jr, 54 & Mary, 51 and siblings, Abner, 30, Valentine, 26, Mary, 14 and Augustus, 12.

Maine Marriages, 1771-1907: William P Oakes marred Edith N Lewis on 5 Aug 1869 in Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine and William P Oakes married Edith W Lewis on 12 Aug 1869 in Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine.

Published in the Piscataquis (ME) Observer 19 Aug 1869 p2: "MARRIED---In Sangerville, Aug. 12th, by D. W. Hussey, Esq., Mr. Wm. P. Oakes and Miss Edith N. Lewis, both of Sangerville."

1880 census of Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine p24C: William P Oakes, age 46, farmer, he & parents born in Maine, listed with wife, Edith N, 37 and children: Louis, 9, Gertie, 7, Harry, 5, Jessie, 2, and unnamed baby girl, 4 months.

1900 census of Foxcroft, Piscataquis, Maine p4A: Wm B Oakes, age 68, born in Mar 1832 in Maine, parents born in Maine, civil engineer, listed with wife of 30 years, Edith N, 59 and children, Harry, 25 and Myrtice M, 20 as well as married daughter, Jessie J Babson, 22 and her new husband, George J, 44.

Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921: William P Oakes, born in Sangerville, Maine, son of William Oakes (farmer, born in Sangerville, Maine) & Mary Weymouth, married, civil engineer, died 1 Feb 1913 in Foxcroft, Maine at age 79y 10m 23d of heart failure.

Oak-Oaks-Oakes Family Register by Henry Lebbeus Oak [1906].

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KHWY-9CR

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23312211

William married Edith Nancy Lewis on 12 Aug 1869 in Sangerville, Piscataquis County, Maine. Edith (daughter of George H. Lewis and Olive M. Rollins) was born on 14 Jul 1842 in Sangerville, Piscataquis County, Maine; died on 7 Jan 1923; was buried about 7 Jan 1923 in Dover Cemetery, Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: MWTZ-VNY
• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 55486722

Notes:

From FindaGrave:

Louis was the son of William Pitt Oakes and Edith (Lewis) Oakes.

"LOUIS OAKES, Sir Harry's Brother, Dies"

Greenville, Maine - Louis C. Oakes, 93, wealthy lumbering, mining and manufacturing executive, died at his residence here Thursday evening.

He was the brother of Sir Harry Oakes, multi-millionaire mining executive, who discovered one of the world's richest gold deposits in Canada.

Mr. Oakes was born February 15, 1871, at Sangerville, the son of William P. and Edith (Lewis) Oakes. He had been a resident of this town since 1907.

He was superintendant of the Hollingsworth and Whitney Paper Co. until his retirement in 1951. He received an honorary degree at the University of Maine in 1953.

Mr. Oakes was known throughout the state as a philanthropist and as a forester. He received a certificate of apreciation from the Maine Committee of American Forest Products Industries three years ago.

He was the first chief warden appointed by the Maine Forestry District upon its establishment in 1909 and held the post through 1918. Since then he had been a deputy forest fire warden.

He had received a doctor of laws degree from Colby College in 1954.
_____

The following comments are by Fred Arthur Oakes, author of "Oakes and Relatives" (1974):

"While I was in Maine, in the summer of 1962, searching old cemeteries, town records, etc., for information about my ancestors, I was asked many times if I was related to Louis Oakes, especially when I got in the vicinity of Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford and Sangerville. I had never heard of him, so I didn't know. I started asking questions about him and I noticed that everyone talked about him with the greatest respect or reverence. They all advised me to see him. While searching the cemetery at Sangerville, a crew was graveling all the driveways and I talked to them. They said Louis Oakes was paying for the graveling as a donation to the cemetery. He had relatives buried there but his parents and the rest of their family are buried in Dover (Lander & Bassett Cemetery, Dover-Foxcroft, ME).

On June 12, 1962, I drove up to Greenville, Maine, about 30 miles north of Sangerville and found Louis Oakes at his beautiful home there. I told him who I was and he invited me into the house. He was a tall slender man and stood straight as a man of 30, in spite of his 91 years. His mind was very alert, with no sign of senility. I can't remember of ever spending a more enjoyable afternoon and evening that I did with him that day.

He got his family Bible and I copied all the family records written on the fly leaves. He also had a copy of the Nathaniel I. Oak family Register, "Oak-Oaks-Oakes" by Henry Lebbeus Oak, which he regarded very highly."

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MWTZ-VNY

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55486722

Louis married Eva Lois Dunham on 28 Dec 1898. Eva was born on 18 Jun 1873 in Maine; died on 21 Feb 1952 in Greenville, Piscataquis County, Maine; was buried after 21 Feb 1952 in Dover Cemetery, Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: LHCC-PKK
• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 6599467

Notes:

From FindaGrave:

Sir Harry Oakes, 1st Baronet
(23 December 1874 –  7 July 1943)

was a British gold mine owner, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist.

Oakes, born December 23, 1874 to Edith and William-Pitt Oakes of Sangerville, was the third of five children. The Oakes family had lived in Sangerville since at least 1808, but in the 1880's William Oakes moved to Foxcroft so his sons could attend Foxcroft Academy.

Harry was 23 years old when he set out on a 16-year journey which took him to Australia, Africa, the Yukon, California, Central America, and Canada. During his college years, he predicted to a classmate that he would become a millionaire and die a violent death "with his boots on." He did both.

Oakes' quest for wealth began in the Yukon where he chipped rock at temperatures which plunged to 60 degrees below zero, even though the gold rush there was coming to a close. In the late 1800's, Oakes spent a year working as a medical assistant treating frostbite cases. By 1906 he found himself shipwrecked off the coast of Alaska, and was taken prisoner briefly by the Russians before being allowed to return to Alaska. Working as a deck hand, Oakes embarked for Australia, where he was once again disappointed in his search for gold. Further failures awaited him in New Zealand and California, the latter in which he suffered and nearly died of heat stroke.

In June of 1911, he traveled to Ontario where he received a new miner's license. From Ontario, he ventured North to Swastika a town in Ontario, Canada. where he met a woman named Roza Brown. Ms. Brown has been described as unusually ugly, malodorous, and was accompanied by snarling dogs. Although she had a well-known contempt for prospectors, Roza ran a boarding house for miners and it was she who put Oakes on the trail to Kirkland Lake and his eventual fortune. Oakes, taking her advice, went to the claims office, leafed through the records and learned of a claim that was going to fall open the next day. However, since he only had $2.65 in his pocket and couldn't wait for money from home, he hurried back to Swastika where he interested a family of four brothers in staking the claim with him.

The five shook hands, agreeing to share in any proceeds from gold that was discovered. The Tough brothers, along with Oakes set out by foot at midnight for the mine. It was 52 degrees below zero as they walked the seven miles through a beginning snowfall. After driving in their stakes, they toasted what they called the Tough-Oakes Mine. Moments later, the former owner of the mine, William Wright, walked into view. Wright saw what had happened, knew he'd lost his claim, and hurried to stake new ones adjoining the Tough-Oakes claim.

Later, he and Oakes formed a partnership and made further claims at Kirkland Lakes. Within eight years, Oakes was the richest man in Canada, where his Lake Shore Mine at Kirkland was second only in wealth to the Homestead Mine in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. After years of struggling to survive, Oakes was now earning an estimated $60,000 a day.

Oakes celebrated his new-found wealth by enjoying a world cruise during which he met a shy, unassuming woman named Eunice MacIntyre, the daughter of a government official. Eunice was twenty-four, six inches taller than Oakes, and 26 years younger. The couple married and returned to Ontario where the following year,

Harry renounced his American citizenship for business reasons. He became a naturalized Canadian, but relocated when he realized that he would have to pay the Canadian government $17,500 per day in taxes for the entitlement to live there. Oakes and his bride sought refuge at Nassau, a Caribbean Island where he would not be required to pay taxes. There, he built a waterworks, a golf course, set up a bus service for the natives, an airplane service for emergency illnesses, a free milk program for children and a fund for unwed mothers. To this he added a gift of $400,000 to St. Georges Hospital in London.

In 1939, King George VI rewarded him by bestowing upon him the title of Baron.

Oakes good fortune came to an abrupt end on a rainy night in July, 1943 while Oakes' wife and four of their five children were vacationing at their summer home in Bar Harbor. Oakes was to join them there the following day, the ninth of July. His close friend Harold Christie, who was later declared to be the perpetrator, told authorities that when he went to wake Oakes at his Nassau estate, he discovered that his skull had been shattered by four blows behind the ear. The body had been partially destroyed by fire, very likely to disguise the true nature of the crime which still remains a "cold case." Christie, who reportedly slept in the adjoining room that night, claimed that he never heard a sound.

What ensued was one of the most disastrous and incompetent police investigations known to date. Important evidence was ignored or discounted, and Oakes autopsy was so badly mishandled that the plane carrying his body had to be recalled in midair for new photographs to be taken. According to the autopsy, Oakes' death had been caused by a single blow or a series of separate blows from a blunt instrument. This conclusion raised a great deal of suspicion, considering that located on the mastoid bone just behind Oakes' right ear were four holes arranged in a square.

Attention was immediately focused on Oakes' son-in-law, Alfred de Marigny. Earlier, Oakes had been seen arguing with him, and de Marigny was deeply mistrusted by the locals. He had arrived in the Bahamas with a playboy reputation and two failed marriages behind him. Moreover, in 1942 he had married Oakes eldest daughter Nancy, only three days after her eighteenth birthday. He had embarrassed the local society in the Bahamas by becoming successful in several businesses without the cooperation of the local community. He particularly irked those of high social status when he frequently won local yacht races. Oakes' son-in-law was arrested and charged with murder the day after Oakes' death. Standing trial, de Marigny was deemed not guilty by a jury in under two hours, and the case was never again reopened.

Years later, Alfred de Marigny went public and claimed that he found one of the missing watchmen who were at Oakes' estate on the night of the murder. He insisted that the man informed him that at the time of the murder, he and the other watchman were sheltering themselves from a sudden storm in a shed. He further recounted that just after midnight, a sedan pulled up to the house and two men got out and went inside the house. The watchmen thought they heard three or four gunshots, and minutes later flames could be seen in Sir Harrys bedroom. The two strangers then exited the scene in the sedan. The two watchmen fled in terror, but not before they identified a third man in the vehicle as Harold Christie.

As told to de Marigny, Christie tracked down the watchmen the next day and paid them each 100 pounds to leave Nassau and never return. They were further encouraged to stay clear of the area when they learned that the local harbor master, an experienced diver, had reportedly drowned in the harbor. The harbor master had reputedly been the only witness to the arrival of a mysterious boat about midnight on the night of the murder.

In the account of de Marigny, Christie avoided investigation because any competent inquiry would have revealed that Oakes, Christie, and the Duke of Windsor had conspired to smuggle millions of dollars out of the Bahamas in violation of currency regulations. The Duke, then the Governor of the Bahamas and former King of Great Britain, possessed the power to reopen the investigation but never did.

Harry Oakes left a personal fortune valued at slightly under $12 million, There is also still the lingering mystery of who murdered Harry Oakes. The official autopsy declared Oakes was killed by a blow to the head, although de Marigny insists a Nassau doctor told him that Oakes was shot to death, a story that coincides with the watchman's account. If de Marigny was telling the truth, there would exist four small-caliber bullets in Harry Oakes' skull.

Sir Harry Oakes is entombed in a marble mausoleum at a Dover-Foxcroft Cemetery.

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LHCC-PKK

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6599467

Harry married Lady Eunice Myrtle MacIntyre on 30 Jun 1923 in Woollahra, Sydney, ____, New South Wales, Australia. Eunice was born on 23 Nov 1898 in Leichhardt, ____, New South Wales, Australia; died on 6 Jun 1981 in Nassau, ____, New Providence, Bahamas; was buried after 6 Jun 1981 in Dover Cemetery, Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: K881-TND
• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 175960336

Notes:

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/K881-TND

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175960336

Jessie married George J. Babson on 9 Apr 1900 in Maine. George was born on 9 Apr 1855 in Brooksville, Hancock County, Maine; died in Jun 1922 in Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine; was buried about Jun 1922 in Rural Grove Cemetery, Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jessie married Dr. Lincoln Paul Ellis in 1925. Lincoln was born on 17 Dec 1887 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; died on 23 Mar 1971 in Loudoun County, Virginia; was buried about 23 Mar 1971 in Union Cemetery, Leesburg, Loudoun County, Virginia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 55486983

Notes:

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55486983

Edith married Cecil Max Hilton before 1932. Cecil was born on 18 Aug 1894 in Greenville, Piscataquis County, Maine; died in 1955 in Greenville, Piscataquis County, Maine; was buried after 1955 in Greenville Cemetery, Greenville, Piscataquis County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: LHCC-1FL
• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 141026086
• Death Registration: Between 1 Jan 2005 and 31 Mar 2005, Westminster Registration District, Middlesex, England; Dist. 2581D, Reg. D52C, Entry 146
• Obituary: Aft 28 Jan 2005

Notes:

From FindaGrave:

Thanks to Find-A-Grave contributor Ash Montagu (#46804013) for providing birth and death locations. Thanks to F-A-G contributor Bobby Kelley (#46959922) for adding the portrait photo and for providing links to Nancy's parents' memorials.

The following is an extract from a biography on the Website of the Museum of Northern History, Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada:

Nancy Oakes (1924 - 2005)

Nancy Oakes was born on May 17th, 1924, the first child and eldest daughter of Harry and Eunice. Nancy would sometimes visit Kirkland Lake when her parents were in town for business trips, but spent most of her childhood attending private schools in Europe and travelling with her parents.

At the age of 17, she was living with her parents in the Bahamas, and met Alfred de Marigny, a businessman and playboy who did not fit in well with the social elite of Nassau. A relationship developed between them and without informing her parents, they were married on May 19th 1942 –  two days after Nancy's 18th birthday. Alfred was not well received as a son-in-law, and when Sir Harry Oakes was murdered, suspicion fell onto Alfred. He was arrested, tried, and later acquitted of the murder. Although Nancy defended Alfred's innocence during the trial, the marriage did not last, and in 1949 the marriage was annulled.

Her second marriage in 1952 was to a member of the German nobility, Baron Ernst-Lyssandt von Hoyningen-Huene. That marriage lasted until 1956, but Nancy kept the title and name of Baroness von Hoyningen-Huene. Nancy married for a third time in 1962 to Michael Tritton, an English businessman, and remained a socialite even in her later years, until her passing in 2005.
_____

[There are fascinating details available on the Web, describing the trial that followed the murder of her father, and her role in the trial. According to one source, the renowned author Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason, called the case "the greatest murder mystery of all time".]

A photo portrait of Nancy can be found on the following Web site:
http://jacarandahousenassau.com/history/
___________

An Ancestry Profile with interesting photos is at:

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/17120732/person/422402542613/facts

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LHCC-1FL

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141026086

Death Registration:
Nancy Oakes von Hoyningen-Huene, born 17 May 1924, died.

Nancy married "Count" Alfred Fouquereaux "Freddie" De Marigny on 19 May 1942 in Nassau, ____, New Providence, Bahamas. Alfred was born on 29 Mar 1910 in Mauritius; died on 28 Jan 1988 in Houston, Harris County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nancy married Baron Ernst-Lyssandt von Hoyningen-Huene on 29 Dec 1952 in Nassau, ____, New Providence, Bahamas, and was divorced before 14 May 1956. Ernst-Lyssandt was born on 9 Feb 1930 in Priborn, Müritz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany; died in 1998 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nancy married Patrick Claude Henry Tritton on 1 Mar 1962 in Mexico, ____, Distrito Federal, México, and was divorced before 1975. Patrick (son of Patrick Arthur Tritton and Judith Alice Mabel Hurt) was born on 18 May 1934 in Marylebone Registration District, Middlesex, England; died on 1 Feb 1998 in Westminster Registration District, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: MWTZ-VVW
• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 196679408
• Obituary: 9 Aug 1966, Manchester, Lancashire, England; Manchester Evening News

Notes:

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MWTZ-VVW

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196679408

Obituary:
Sir Sydney Oakes dies
By a Special Correspondent

SIR SYDNEY OAKES, 39-year-old businessman, has died in hospital at Nassau, in the Bahamas, after a car crash.

He was the elser son of Sir Harry Oakes, Canadian-born baronet and goldmining millionaire, whose murder in 1943 is one of the century's greatest unsolved crimes.

Sir Sydney's car left the road yesterday and hit a lamp standard and crshed down and trapped him.

He was twice married. By his first wife he leaves a son, Christopher, 17, who inherits the title, and two daughters, Felicity, 14, and Virginia, 13, both of whom are in England.

He and his second wife, Lady Nancy Oakes, have a son, Pitt, five.

Died:
He was killed in an auto accident.

Sydney married Lady Greta Hartmann on 21 Jun 1948 in London, Middlesex, England, and was divorced on 26 Sep 1958 in Nassau, ____, New Providence, Bahamas. Greta was born on 5 Mar 1928 in Copenhagen, ____, Københavns Amt, Denmark; died on 14 Nov 1977 in Dundee, Angus, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sydney married Nancy Hoyt on 27 Aug 1961. Nancy was born on 27 Aug 1934 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; died on 29 Mar 2010 in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, Florida; was buried after 29 Mar 2010 in Dover Cemetery, Dover-Foxcroft, Piscataquis County, Maine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: LYMY-TY4
• Probate: 12 Aug 1988, London, Middlesex, England

Notes:

From Sandra, Sept 2025:

Shirley was one of the bridal attendants for the wedding between John F. Kennedy marriage to Jackie..

Contemporary reports of Jackie's wedding party list "Shirley Oakes" among Jacqueline Bouvier's bridal attendants / bridesmaids. I found multiple period/newspaper-derived references that include Shirley Oakes in the wedding party.
Virginia Chronicle

Multiple family/genealogy pages connect Shirley (Oakes) Butler to the Oakes family of Nassau and report she was in a serious car accident in 1981 and is recorded as dying in the mid-1980s (some pages list 1986)

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LYMY-TY4

Probate:
BUTLER, Shirley Lewis Oakes of Jacaranda, Parliament St., City of Nassau, New Providence, Bahamasm dir 9 August 1986, Probate Nassau £8657 in England and Wales. SEALED London 12 August [1988] 8851109578M.

Died:
Ancestry.com. Florida, U.S., Death Index, 1877-1998
Name      Shirley Oakes Butler
Race      White
Age at Death      57
Birth Date      10 Apr 1929
Death Date      9 Aug 1986
Death Place      Palm Beach, Florida, United States

Shirley married Allan Churchill Butler on 9 Apr 1961 in Nassau, ____, New Providence, Bahamas, and was divorced before 1982. Allan (son of Dr. Allan Macy Butler and Mabel Harlakenden Churchill) was born on 26 Apr 1926 in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts; died on 6 Aug 2007 in Portland, Cumberland County, Maine; was buried after 6 Aug 2007 in Churchill Cemetery, Plainfield, Sullivan County, New Hampshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• FamilySearch ID: MWTZ-VV2
• FindaGrave Memorial ID: 55159870

Notes:

From FindaGrave:

William was the 2nd oldest son of Sir Harry Oakes & Eunice (MacIntyre) Oakes five children. His siblings were Nancy, Sidney, Shirley Lewis & Harry Phillip Oakes.

The 27 year old William P. Oakes died as a result of coronary thrombosis complicated by a liver ailment. He lived in Nassau, The Bahamas, with his wife Eunice (Bailey) Oakes. He was visiting New York City on business and staying at the Westbury Hotel before falling ill and being taken to the Bronx Nursing Home. He died shortly after his arrival.

William was the Director of the Katmative Tin Mines in Rhodesia and also had interests in several oil drilling companies.

No children are listed for William & Eunice Oakes.


Gravesite Details

Buried in tomb with his father Sir Harry Oakes

FamilySearch ID:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MWTZ-VV2

FindaGrave Memorial ID:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55159870

William married Eunice Joyce Bailey on 5 Jul 1952 in London, Middlesex, England. Eunice was born on 6 Sep 1928 in London, Middlesex, England; died on 26 Jul 2011 in Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida; was buried after 26 Jul 2011 in South End Cemetery, East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Harry married C. Botsch [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]