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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Hudson, Cecil Thomas

Cecil Thomas Hudson was born on 23 February 1899 in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. His parents were George Hudson, a carpenter, and Georgina Clarke. He had two younger siblings – Lottie and Harold. Cecil enlisted with the Kenora detachment of the 94th Battalion on 17 March 1916 claiming that he was 18 years of age…. Read More »

Wismer, Ira Franklin

Ira Franklin (Pat) Wismer was born on 23 April 1898 in the RM of Glenwood (Souris), Manitoba. His father Norman Wismer and mother Deborah Mezina Clark were from Warwick Township, Lambton, Ontario. At some point after their marriage the couple headed west, first found in Treherne, RM of Norfolk, in Manitoba followed by a few… Read More »

Baker, Daniel MacTavish

Daniel MacTavish Baker was born on 24 September 1886 in Sydenham Township, Grey, Ontario. His father Wesley Baker was born in nearby St Vincent while his mother Mary MacTavish, daughter of Scottish immigrants, was from Sydenham. With occupation given as yeoman, Wesley and Mary married on 29 May 1882 in Sydenham. They gave birth to… Read More »

Johnston, Christina Margaret

Christina Margaret Johnston was born on 3 July 1888 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her parents John Dickinson Johnston and Ellen Brydon married on 6 March 1878 in Guelph Township, Ontario. After giving birth to children Helen and William the family had moved to Winnipeg by 1882. They gave birth to daughter Laura that year followed by… Read More »

Ovens, Thomas Earl

Private Thomas Earl Ovens was the son of Isaac Ovens and Katherine (Kate) Winner of East Selkirk, Manitoba. Isaac was born in Ontario to Irish parents and Kate was American and of German ancestry. Their three oldest children were born in Colorado: Hilyard Verl (1891), Thomas Earl and Ruby Lenore. Thomas was born on 1… Read More »

McLean, Hugh Donald

Hugh Donald McLean was born 28 October 1891 at the family home on Beaton’s Island in Keewatin, Ontario. When Hugh was born his middle name was registered as ‘Daniel’  which may have been a mistake when recorded.  His parents, Donald (known as ‘Dan’) and his mother Catherine  emigrated from Glasgow, Scotland arriving in Quebec in… Read More »

Leavesley, Ernest Thomas

Ernest Thomas Leavesley was born on 13 July 1883 in Basford, a suburb in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. His father Charles Leavesley was from Newton Regis in Warwickshire while his mother Hannah Mee was from Basford where the couple married in 1874. Ernest had an older sister Sarah and a younger brother Charles. Charles Sr first… Read More »

Coltman, William Whitehead

William Whitehead Coltman was born on 9 February 1891 in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland. His father John Coltman, a wool packer, was from Buchlyvie while his mother Ann Hutton was from the Dunmore-Airth area, both in Stirlingshire. The couple married on 26 November 1896 in Alloa. Their first child, John was born the next year, followed… Read More »

Dyer, Francis (Frank) John

Francis (Frank) John Dyer was born on 21 December 1900 in Kilburn, Middlesex, England. He was the eldest child of merchant seaman Francis Joseph Dyer  and Gertrude Shapcott. Siblings included sisters, Gertrude Louisa (b. 1901), Lilian Maud (b. 1904), Beatrice Nellie (b. 1905) and Nora Helena (b. 1907). His father enlisted with the Royal Garrison… Read More »

Hall, James Crebbin

James Crebbin Hall was born on 8 January 1877 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. His father James Crebbin Hall Sr was from Coleraine, Ireland while his mother Harriet Purchon was from Leeds, Yorkshire. The couple married on 28 January 1871 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire where they gave birth to their first child, daughter Anne, in 1872. By… Read More »