Early Life
James Bernard Harkin, nicknamed "Bunny", was born January 30, 1875 in the town of Vankleek Hill in eastern Ontario. His parents were Dr. William Harkin and Elizabeth (McDonnell). He was the fourth of five children born into a devout Catholic family but along with his brother William, Harkin was unconcerned with religious motivations. Their father, Dr. William Harkin, was a devout Catholic who was born to Irish Protestant immigrants in 1831 in Vanleek Hill where he became a schoolteacher and soon after went to study Medicine at McGill University. Harkin's life with his father was cut short due to his father's tragic death while speaking at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1881, where he suffered a heart attack. His father was a staunch advocate for the Conservatives in which he held a seat in the Legislative Assembly for the district of Prescott. After the death of his father, Harkin remained with his mother and sister until his high school years where he left to live with his brother who had become a doctor in Marquette, Michigan. Harkin was born into general affluence and a politically powerful family. Despite the passing of his father, Harkin's upbringing influenced his ability to forge the beginning of his career as a cub reporter with the Montreal Herald at age seventeen.
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