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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McIvor, Percy Roy

According to his attestation papers, Percy Roy McIvor was born on 21 July 1889 in Odessa, Ontario. He was the first born child of Henry and Minerva (née Walker) McIvor who farmed in/near the village of Cataraqui on the outskirts of Kingston, about 15 kilometres from Odessa. Other known children born to the family were… Read More »

Huggins, Ralph

Rudolph (Ralph) Huggins was born on 17 September 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Both of his parents, William Caro Huggins and Eliza(beth) Harriet Betsworth, were born in England. William immigrated to Canada as a young child with his parents and siblings and along with his brother James first came to the Lake… Read More »

Clark, William

William was the second child and only son of James  Clark and Jane/Jean (Heddle) of Keewatin, Ontario. His parents had married  on June 16, 1893 in Old Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He had an older sister, Jeannie, and two younger sisters, Isabella and Jamesina, all born in Scotland. James immigrated to Canada in 1904 and Jane… Read More »

Wilson, John Samuel (1884-1964)

John Samuel Wilson was born on 11 May 1884 in his parent’s home at No 6 Rosslyn Terrace in Joppa, Portobello, Scotland. Today both Joppa and Portobello are suburbs of Edinburgh. John’s parents Robert Knox Wilson, commission agent, and Isabella Chisholm Amos had married on 26 April 1881 in Edinburgh. John had an older sister… Read More »

Anderson, Jonas Helmer

Jonas Helmer Anderson was born on 13 January 1884 in in the village/croft of Täfteå in Sävar, Västerbotten, Sweden. His father Anders Gustaf Anderson was from Sävar while his mother Emma Johanna Hãgglund was from Nysätra in Västerbotten. The couple married in 1870 in Sävar. Children born to the family in Sävar were Gustaf (1870),… Read More »

Ronald, Gordon Campbell

Gordon Campbell Ronald was born on 1 December 1888 in Drumbo, Ontario. His parents were James Edwin Ronald and Christina Mcpherson. Siblings included: William Daniel (1886-1929), Jennette (1891-1951), Margaret Helen (1895-1925) and James Edwin (1897-1923). Gordon lived in the Blenheim area of Ontario with his family until some time after 1911 when he headed north… Read More »

Gowsell, Walter

Walter Gowsell was born in southern Ontario in a farming area just north of Belleville. Although he gave his date of birth as 23 July 1882 in Foxboro on his attestation papers, his  Ontario birth registration gives the date as 20 May 1882 in the nearby community of  Thurlow, likely  written as  the township instead… Read More »

Favel, John Thomas

Private John Thomas Favel enlisted in December 1915, at age 16, and served in France and Belgium with the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. He was wounded twice but he survived the war and returned home in December 1918. His father and older brother also enlisted and served overseas. John Thomas, usually known as Thomas, was… Read More »

Emerson, Robert Stewart

Robert Stewart Emerson was born on 27 November 1886 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His parents Robert Wellington Emerson and Catherine (Kate) Wilson Martin married on 3 March 1882 in the RM of St Andrews, Manitoba. Kate’s family had been farming just outside of Rat Portage and the newlyweds were to make Rat… Read More »