Kenora Great War Project

 

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The People

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These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.

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Lang, William John

William John Lang was born 27 October 1881 in Hamilton, Ontario. His parents were Thomas Henry Lang (a brakeman on the railroad) and Louisa Lewis. Siblings included Charles (b. 1883) and Maggie (b. 1888). The family was living in St. Thomas Ontario in 1891 and 1901. William’s mother, Louisa, died in 1897 when he was… Read More »

Cox, William John

Private William John Cox was one of four brothers who served in the First World War. He was called up in 1918 and he spent a year with the Canadian Garrison Regiment in Halifax. William John, usually known as John, was born on 15 June 1895 in Gravenhurst, District of Muskoka, Ontario. He was the… Read More »

Cairns, William

During the war over 250 battalions were raised in Canada but only a small number of them served with the Canadian Corps in France and Belgium. Most battalions were broken up in England and used as reinforcements to replace casualties in front line units. Private William Cairns joined the 144th Battalion and after 16 months… Read More »

Lapworth, George Thomas

George Thomas Lapworth was born 11 August 1889 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England to George Lapworth and Mary Jane (West) Lapworth. He was baptized at St. Andrew’s Church in Rugby on 30 August 1889. In the 1891 England Census, Mary Jane was listed as a widow ‘living on means’ with her son, George and two boarders… Read More »

Raleigh, Frederick Patrick

Private Frederick Patrick Raleigh was the son of Edmund Raleigh and Annie Franks of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Edmund was born in Ireland around 1851 and came to Canada with his family as a child. They lived in Quebec for several years before settling in Almonte, North Lanark County, Ontario. Edmund’s youngest brother, John Patrick, was born… Read More »

Swanson, Carl Adrian

Corporal Carl Adrian Swanson was born in Torsas, Kalmar lan (Kalmar county), Sweden on 16 November 1897. His birth name was Karl Adrian Karlsson and his parents were Karl/Carl Johan Svensson and Frida/Freda Maria Andersson. Karl and Frida were married in Torsas in 1893 and their first five children were born in Sweden: John Herbert… Read More »

Woods, Milfred Hueston

Milfred Hueston Woods was born on 15 December 1895 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His parents Russell Woods, originally from Quebec, and Elizabeth Fletcher,  born in Ontario, had married in Winnipeg on 29 December 1886. By the 1891 Canada census the family was living in Rat Portage East, Russell’s occupation given as locomotive… Read More »

Van Norman, Harry Hinds

Lieutenant Harry Hinds Van Norman, MC, enlisted in January 1915 and served overseas for three and a half years. He was promoted from Private to Sergeant in October 1915 and commissioned as a Lieutenant in April 1917. He earned a Military Cross in the last weeks of the war. Harry was the oldest son of… Read More »

Butt, Edwin Frederick

Private Edwin Frederick Butt was called up in February 1918, at age 20. He served in France and Belgium for six months with the 52nd (New Ontario) Battalion. Edwin was the son of William Butt and Eleanor Kate Pearce of Kenora, Ontario. He was born in Rat Portage (later called Kenora) on 6 July 1897… Read More »

Morrow, Murdoch Arthur

Murdoch Arthur Morrow was born on 27 December 1894 in Carman, Manitoba, date and place confirmed by a late Manitoba birth registration of 1956. His father William Dixon Morrow was from Ireland while his mother Esther Ann Munro was from Scotland, the couple marrying on 11 September 1873 in Owen Sound, Ontario. William and Esther… Read More »