DOAK, ROBERT HARVIE (1850-1909)

DOAK, ROBERT HARVIE, farmer, mill owner, and farm machinery vendor; b. Doaktown, 15 May 1850, s/o James Andrew Doak and Ann Harvie; m. 1885, Christina Cameron, d/o Murdoch Cameron and Margaret MacDougall, of Black River; d. Doaktown, 22 Jan 1909.

The Union Advocate reported in 1875 that Harvie Doak had a sawmill with one gang, a grist mill with a capacity of 160 bushels of grain a day, and a carding mill capable of processing ninety pounds of wool, all housed together in a large, strong building. According to the newspaper Doak was "an enterprising young man" and "quite a mechanical genius." He spent most of his lifetime operating the various mills on the Doak family property and conducting the farm which he inherited from his father. He built a new store in 1888 and later had agricultural machinery and farm supplies for sale. In 1894 he erected a building in which to manufacture implements used in farming.

Doak and his wife, Christina Cameron, had a son and two daughters. Their son, Herbert Edison Doak, was the occupant of the family home until his relatively early death. Then one of their daughters, Margaret M. Doak, a former teacher, lived there for some forty years, until she died in 1979. Soon afterwards, the homestead became the centerpiece of the Doak Historic Park.