Harry came to Florida in the winter of 1887, aged 16, to work in an orange grove on Merritt Island ( Brevard County ) that was owned by a cousin. He picked fruit, weeded, and transported the fruit to Titusville on a launch fueled by naphtha instead of gasoline. From Titusville the fruit was shipped north by rail. In 1889, Harry, always hardworking and in need of money, found employment in a foundry in New York City . Harry worked in Florida during the winters and returned to work on his family's farm in New Jersey every spring. When he turned 21 in 1892, he left home for good and came to Florida , where he worked for George Gale on Lake Worth and became acquainted with Henry Sanders and his son Will Sanders. [Will was married to George's sister, Hattie. Harry later married Will's sister, Susan, whom he would not meet until 1898.]
Harry moved to Jupiter in 1893 and joined the crew of the Life Saving Station under Captain Charles Robert Carlin, where he was employed, for a dollar a day, from 1893 to 1896, when the station was closed. At the same time, he bought 20 acres of land on what is now the Intracoastal Waterway on the site of the present-day B.P.O.E. (Elks) Lodge, west of U.S. Highway One, and engaged Captain Carlin to build him a one-story house (14' x 28') there. On his days off, he grew 10 acres of pineapples on his land. This building was later moved by barge and rebuilt near the present DuBois House. Harry and his partner, Fred Powell, owned a boat and would sail to Key West and Cuba to load up with bananas, pineapples, sapodillas, coconuts and sprouted coconuts, and other fruits. They would then sail up and down the East Coast of Florida selling these things. If a buyer requested, Harry would plant the sprouted coconuts for him. When Henry Flagler brought his Florida East Coast Railway south and began construction of the Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach , Harry saw the possibilities for work and hauled lumber and other supplies to Palm Beach by boat.
He met his future wife, Susan Sanders, in February 1898 on a blind date at the Jupiter Lighthouse arranged by Charles Carlin, son of Captain Carlin. He was 27, she was 22. The evening was dark, and it was not until they had climbed to the top of the tower that they got a good look at each other. For Harry, it was love at first sight. [It is tantalizing to conjecture, since Harry borrowed money and purchased these 12 acres at the end of February--days after meeting Susan--that he had determined after so short an acquaintance to marry Susan and build his bride a house. It took him 12 years to repay the loan.] They were married September 15, 1898 , at the home of her brother, Will Sanders, in what is today Mangonia Park .
Harry and Susan had four children, all born at home: John (1899-1987), Henry (1901-97), Anna (1903-83), and Neil (1904-1990).
John married Bessie Wilson (1903-98), June 23, 1924 . Together, they ran a fishing camp (1926-1941) and a restaurant, the Jupiter Inlet Inn (1929-42), just west of the DuBois Home. [Note that John and Bessie never lived in the DuBois Pioneer Home. They had their own house on the Inlet near their camp and restaurant.]
Henry worked in the fern business for many years, and Neil was involved in his father's bee-keeping and saw palmetto honey enterprises and later had a real estate business. Anna taught school for a year in Havana , Florida , and worked for the Postal Service for 30 years in many administrative capacities, including that of "postmaster" of Kelsey City , now Lake Park . Anna was able to go to college (Florida State College for Women, now Florida State University ) on "honey money," the income her father realized from his bee-keeping and sale of honey.