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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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 »

Montgomery, Clyde McIlquhan

With a family of eight children, five of the Montgomery sons were to enlist during the war. The Montgomery family had its roots in Lanark County in Ontario. Oswald Montgomery Sr, the son of a farmer and local justice of the peace, was born in 1857 in the township of Drummond. On 11 June 1884,… Read More »

Williams, Bill (aka Bill Oleski)

Private Bill Williams (aka Bill Oleski) was living in Kenora, Ontario when he enlisted on 15 January 1917. According to his attestation, he was born on 25 February 1890 in Pilot Butte, Saskatchewan and next of kin was his stepfather John Oleski in Pilot Butte. Bill joined the 230th Battalion which was a forestry unit… Read More »

Dawson, Harry

Acting Corporal Harry Dawson was a CPR conductor in Kenora, Ontario when he enlisted with a railway unit in February 1917. He served in France and Belgium for two years and returned to Canada in July 1919. Harry was the son of Jonathan William Dawson and Hannah Scatley Hinde of Norwich, Norfolk, England. Jonathan was… Read More »

Sheppard, Peter

According to his attestation papers, Peter Sheppard was born on 22 June 1886 in Glasgow, Scotland. A birth record was not found and given his gray hair he was likely older than stated. When he attested with the 190th Battalion on 21 July 1916 in Winnipeg, Peter had been living in Kenora, Ontario and working… Read More »

Day, Frederick Alfred

Frederick Alfred ‘Ford’ Day was born on 09 January 1896 in Bracebridge, Muskoka, Ontario. His parents were Frederick Day and Amelia May ‘Molly’ Traviss. They had married on 26 December 1894 in Newmarket, Ontario and Ford was their first child. Other children born to this couple were Ella (b. 1897), Thomas (1898 – 1981), Clarence… Read More »

Harkins, John Jerry

John Jeremiah (Jerry) Harkins was born on 6 February 1890 in Keewatin, Ontario. His father Joseph Patrick Harkins was from Quebec City and had come to the area to work in the lumbering/sawmill industry. His mother Sarah Stewart was from Walkerton. The couple married in Keewatin in 1888 and gave birth to their first child,… Read More »

Mackie, Frederick Thomas

Private Frederick Thomas Mackie was born on 25 August 1875 in the Township of Inverness, Mégantic County, Quebec. His father, Dr. John R. Mackie, a physician, and his mother, Jane Elizabeth Borland, were both born in Quebec. Fred had at least three older siblings: Edith Anna, Arthur Edward and William Burton. Fred was baptized at… Read More »

Deacon, Lester Jerome

Lester Deacon was born in 1895 in Rat Portage, now Kenora. His father Thomas Russ Deacon, a civil engineer, had moved there in 1892 as manager of the Ontario Gold Concessions and was also managing director for the Mikado Gold Mine. Thomas Deacon was a member of the town council and served as town engineer…. Read More »

Carson, William Garfield

William Garfield Carson was born on 12 July 1897 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. He was the youngest son of James Wylie Carson and Hannah Henrietta Frost who, according to a family tree on ancestry.ca, had married in 1870 in Portage du Fort in Quebec. Other known children born to the family were… Read More »