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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Wiggins, John Alexander

John Alexander Wiggins was born on 4 June 1873 on a farm in the area of Markdale, Ontario, about 150 kilometres northwest of Toronto in the Glenelg district of Grey. His father Thomas Wiggins was an Irish immigrant and his mother Margaret Gillespie, born in the area, was the daughter of Irish immigrants. Thomas and… Read More »

Baker, Claude Cleveland

Claude Cleveland Baker was born on 29 June 1881 in Athol, Cumberland in Nova Scotia. His parents Hance Wilson Baker and Angelina Harriet Cleveland had married in 1860 and farmed in the Maccan district in Cumberland. Known children born to the couple were Frank Benton (abt 1862), Florence May (1864), Emma (abt 1865), Harry Wilson… Read More »

Woods, Percy Alexander

Percy Alexander Woods was born on 26 December 1899 in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. He was the youngest child of Samuel Wesley Woods and Florence Rosamund Lelewelyn. Siblings included: Florence Meriam (b. 1890), Samuel Lelewelyn (b. 1892) and Ethel (b. 1894). The family continued to live in Portage la Prairie until some time after 1911…. Read More »

Phillips, Russell Frederick

Russell Frederick Phillips was born on 17 September 1888 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario, date confirmed by his British Columbia death record. His father Jame Phillips was born in 1822 in Dunblane, Scotland while his mother Merceline Bourassa was from Buckingham, Quebec, born in 1850. The couple married on 30 April… Read More »

Hooper, Frederick James

Frederick James (Jim) Hooper was born on 28 December 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) Ontario. His father Frederick Thomas Hooper was born in England while his mother Mary Sarah O’Sullivan was from Ireland, the couple marrying in 1883 in Detroit, Michigan. His father had worked on the construction of the MacKenzie canal at… Read More »

Walker, Samuel

Private Samuel Walker was the son of William Walker and Mary Ogston Christie of Keewatin, Ontario. William was born in Derbyshire, England and Mary in Aberdeen, Scotland. They both came to Canada in the mid-1880s and they were married in Keewatin in 1887. They had at least five children: Alexander Christie (1889), Samuel (5 April… Read More »

Sexsmith, Richard Franklin

Private Richard Franklin Sexsmith and his brother Mark Sexsmith arrived in France in September 1917. They were both killed in action a month later at the Battle of Passchendaele, while serving with the 52nd Battalion. Richard was son of Joseph Sexsmith and Emily Georgina Orr of Faraday Township, Hastings County, Ontario. Joseph and Emily were… Read More »

Dempster, Andrew

Andrew Dempster was one of four brothers, the sons of John and Catherine Dempster, to volunteer for service during the war. He had been born on 08 August 1887 in Stirling, Scotland. The family included John (1861) and Catherine (1861); sons William (1894), Thomas (1887), his twin brother Andrew (1887); Daniel (1888); John (1896) and… Read More »

Harvey, Samuel

Samuel Harvey was one of a dozen Kenora/Keewatin area men to fall in the Second Battle Passchendaele which took place between Oct. 26 and Nov. 10 of 1917, to the east of Ipres (Ypres), Belgium.  Called on to replace battered British and Australian/New Zealand troops, the 100,000 strong Canadian Corps used a multi-phase plan of… Read More »