Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | January 28, 1892 |
Place of Birth | Keewatin, Ontario |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Joseph Kinney, Kenora, Ontario |
Trade / Calling | trainman |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 439106 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | 52nd Battalion |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Address at Enlistment | Kenora, Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | February 27, 1915 |
Age at Enlistment | 23 |
Theatre of Service | Europe |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | November 23, 1960 |
Age at Death | 69 |
Buried At | Mountain View Cemetery, Thunder Bay, Ontario |
Plot | Block 116 Grave 11 |
Frank was the son of Lea (Villeneuve) and Joseph Kinney and was born in 1892 Keewatin Ontario. Frank grew up in a large family of 2 sisters and 4 brothers. When Frank enlisted in 1915, he was a trainman for the CNR. Two other brothers (Thomas James and Joseph Jerry) also saw service in WW1. Frank signed up in February 1915 and joined the 52nd Battalion. For a few weeks in March 1915 he was with the 44th Battalion but then returned to the 52nd Battalion for the remainder of the war. Frank’s service record shows he was in England in December 1915 and then saw action in France. Throughout his time in WW1, Frank suffered repeated bouts of bronchitis, eventually referred to as chronic bronchitis. Tuberculosis was suspected when he was returned to Canada in November 1917. The Kenora newspaper reported that Frank and two other local soldiers returned by train from Halifax after having seen a long period of service at the front. A week later the paper reported that Frank had been a member of the famous 52nd Battalion and that Battalion had been at the front for over two years. Frank was admitted to the Manitoba Military Convalescent Home in Tuxedo M on 22 November 1917 and was discharged in February 1918.
After Frank returned from the war, he returned to Kenora and then moved to Fort William by the spring of 1919. Frank is shown on the 1921 census as aged 24, a roomer, living at 141 East Frederica in the home of John Johnson, his wife Lillian and seven children. Frank is listed as a labourer. He did go to work at the CNR by 1923, retiring in 1957 after 34 years of service. At some point in the early 1920s, Lillian’s husband left the family and settled in Winnipeg. Frank and Lillian ( born Elizabeth Ellen Evans) raised the seven children and they lived the rest of their lives in Thunder Bay. The oldest child, Gordon Leslie Johnson also eventually moved to Winnipeg. Edna Iris (nicknamed ‘Ted’) Johnson married George Schelling. Victor Earle Johnson married Velva Doris Stubbins. Stanley Cecil Johnson married Catherine Sutherland. Margaret Johnson married Frank Sherriff. The youngest two children, Dorothy ‘Dot’ Marie (married Arthur Scott) and Leonard Franklin ‘Mickey’ (married Anistasia Pearl ‘Nellie’ Magalas) used the surname Kinney. When Frank and Lillian passed away, both obituaries mentioned six surviving children as Edna had passed away in 1957.
Frank passed away in Deer Lodge Hospital in Winnipeg on November 23, 1960 after a long illness. He is buried in the Military Plot at Mountain View Cemetery in Thunder Bay Ontario. His long time partner Lillian Kinney passed away May 2, 1970 and is also buried in Mountain View Cemetery.
By Rhonda Glofcheski