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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Reid, Elmer Henry

Elmer Henry Reid was born on 25 March 1892 in Poplar Point in the RM of Woodlands in south central Manitoba. His parents, both from southern Ontario, were William Henry Reid and Margaret Melissa Darling. The couple had married on 2 May 1888 in Smith Township in the Peterborough District. After giving birth to son… Read More »

Tandy, William

In October 1917 the Canadian Corps moved to the Ypres Salient in Belgium for the Battle of Passchendaele. Artillery shells had destroyed the drainage systems in the area and the battlefield was a wasteland of mud, swamp and water-filled shell holes. The Canadians suffered 15,000 casualties in the operation with over 3,000 men killed and… Read More »

Blackburn, Arthur Stanley

Private Arthur Stanley Blackburn was called up for service in January 1918 and he arrived in France seven months later. He served with the 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion in the last months of the war and returned to Canada in March 1919. Arthur Stanley (sometimes spelled Standley) was most likely born in Vincennes Township,… Read More »

Anderson, George August LeRoy

George August (Gus) LeRoy Anderson was born on 15 December 1893. Although he gave his place of birth as Winston, Ontario in various documents and records, the name of it was actually Winston’s Siding, a very small community along the Canadian Pacific Railway between Schreiber and Rossport in northern Ontario. Both of his parents, John… Read More »

Lingwood, John

Soldier, actor, carpenter, town constable, radio repairman, cattle rancher, sewer inspector and those were just a some of the many jobs John Lingwood held over his lifetime. But it was his time as a soldier that most influenced his life. John Lingwood was born March 2, 1883 in Bareilly, India, the first child of British… Read More »

Woods, William Harvey

William Harvey Woods was born on 7 March 1885 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Arthur Woods, son of Irish immigrant Russel Woods and Quebec born Eliza Huston, grew up on a farm in the Kildare/Joliette, Quebec region. His mother Harriet Ross, daughter of William and Margaret (Caswell) Ross was from the… Read More »

Thorsteinson, Oscar

Born as Asgier Thorsteinsson he became known as ‘Oscar Thorsteinson’sometime after his arrival in Canada. He was the son of Thorvaldur (called Valdi) Thorsteinsson and Ragnihildur Eyolfsdottir. His mother separated from Valdi and left Iceland about 1902 taking their youngest child, Oscar, with her. She settled in Seattle, Washington. Oscar, born January 17, 1897, was… Read More »

Grant, Thomas

Born on January 10, 1885 in Ardelach, Nairn in Scotland, Thomas Grant, the son of Charles Grant and Annie Roberts, immigrated from Scotland in 1907 to Kenora, Ontario, Canada. He met Catherine (Kate) Duncan and they were married by license in the town of Kenora on April 11, 1911. Thomas was a flour packer at… Read More »

Vellieux, Joseph

Joseph Andre Vellieux was born on 17 October 1891 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario, date confirmed by his baptism record. His father Louis Vellieux was from Quebec while his mother Alphonsine Cyr was from Manitoba, the couple marrying on 27 August 1887 in Rat Portage. Over the years the spelling of the surname… Read More »