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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George, Ernest Frederick

During the First World War between 3,000 and 4,000 Canadian soldiers became German prisoners of war. Lance Corporal Ernest Frederick George from Kenora, Ontario enlisted with the 8th Battalion in September 1914 and he died as a prisoner of war in Belgium seven months later. Ernest was born in September 1889 in the town of… Read More »

Kippling, George

George Kippling was born on 8 July 1887 in the District of Rainy River. His parents were Edward and Margaret (Linklater) Kippling, both having roots in the Red River Settlement. By the 1881 Canada census the couple was living in Eastern Extension of the Manitoba Extension of Manitoba, later to be part of Ontario. Listed… 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 »

Burgess, William Cowie

William Cowie Burgess was born on 11 January 1886 in Buckie, Banffshire, Scotland. His father George Burgess was from Rathven, and his mother Jane Ingram was from Fordyce, both in Banffshire. The couple married in 1871 in Fordyce. The 1881 Scotland census found George working as a van driver and at the time of William’s… Read More »

Tomkins, Harry

Birth date and location: Harry’s actual birth is recorded in the second quarter of 1877 in the registration district of Aston, County of Warwickshire, England; however he states that his birth was June 4, 1879, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. There appears to be no explanation as to how this date was determined. Family and early life:… Read More »

Jorgenson, Martin

Private Martin Jorgenson was one of five brothers who enlisted for service in the First World War. The five boys – Jacob, Martin, John,  Gustave and Thomas – came from a large family in Whitemouth, Manitoba. Martin was killed in France in June 1917 but his four brothers survived and returned home after the war…. Read More »

Woods, James Huston Ross

James Huston Ross  Woods was born on 14  January 1893 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 (née Caswell) Ross was… Read More »

Stewart, Peter

Peter Stewart was born on 17 October 1889 in March Cottage in Forse, Latheron, Caithness, Scotland. He was the eldest child of farmer Donald Stewart and Dorothy Mackay who had married on 18 January 1889 in Inverness. His younger siblings included Mary (1891), Isabella Marjorie (Ida) (1893), William (1896) and Dorothy Evelyn (Dora) (1898). At… Read More »

Finlayson, George Walter Stewart

Private George Walter Stewart Finlayson enlisted in January 1916 and served overseas for three years. He was wounded in February 1917 but he survived the war and returned to Canada in May 1919. George was the son of Nichol and Elizabeth Finlayson of Kenora, Ontario. His grandfather Hector Finlayson had been one of the early… Read More »

Benson, William

William Benson was born on 20 December 1887 in Pickering, Yorkshire in England. His father Mark Benson was from Pickering while his mother Annie Elizabeth Swain was from West Heslerton, also in Yorkshire. The couple had married during the first quarter of 1887 in Pickering. William had three younger siblings, James (1889), Mary (1891), and… Read More »