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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MacMillan, Roderick

Roderick McMillan was born on 17 June 1883 in the Lost River area of Harrington and Union in Quebec where his family farmed. He was the son of Dougald (Dugald) McMillan and Christie Ann McCrimmon. In later years the spelling of his surname was changed to MacMillan. Known children born to the family in Quebec… Read More »

Smith, John Alexander

Corporal John Alexander Smith enlisted in May 1915 and served with the 52nd (New Ontario) Battalion for almost four years. He returned to Canada in March 1919. John was born on 26 April 1890 in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His parents were Alexander Smith, a tailor, and Helen Eadie. Alexander was from Lanarkshire and Helen was… Read More »

Proutt, William

William Proutt was born on 25 April 1895 in the RM of Rosedale in the Neepawa/Birnie area in Manitoba where his family farmed. His father William Proutt Sr was born in Ontario, living and farming in the Medonte, Simcoe area. Around 1872 he married Ellen Thompson, her family also farming in the area. Together William… Read More »

Duncan, Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson Duncan was listed as a teamster in the Kenora area when he enlisted signing his attestation papers in Fort Frances, Ontario on 28 July 1915. His previous employment was as a delivery/salesman for R. W. Ferrier’s grocery business. His parents Robert Ainsley Duncan and Elizabeth A. McFee moved west to the rural district… Read More »

Cory, William Roger

Private William Roger Cory grew up in England and served with the British army for eight years, from 1901 to 1909. Afterwards he immigrated to Canada and when the First World War started he enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He suffered severe wounds at the Battle of the Somme and died from his injuries… Read More »

Simpson, John

John Simpson enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba on 8 December 1915. According to his attestation paper he was born on 15 August 1893 in Kenora, Ontario and John Simpson was an “adopted” name, possibly an anglicized version of his birth name. As next of kin he listed his mother Keenia Samson in Russia. John said he… Read More »

McMurdie, Edward Alphonse

According to his birth registration*, Edward Alphonse McMurdie was born on 17 October 1887 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Born in Lambeth, Surrey, England, father Charles McMurdie had immigrated to Canada around 1870 while his mother Catherine (née Sullivan) McMurdie was from Peterborough, Ontario. Although Charles was found in the Rat Portage area… Read More »

Park, John Harold Herbert

Private John Harold Herbert Park was the son of William Henry Park and Isabella Lumsden of Manchester, England. William was born in Ulverston, Lancashire and his wife in Dundee, Scotland. They were married in 1880 in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire and they had ten children over the next 27 years. The family lived in Barrow… Read More »

Dunn, St. Clair

Captain St. Clair Dunn was a practising physician when he was commissioned as an officer in the spring of 1916. He went overseas that fall and arrived in France a year later. St. Clair was killed in action near the Vimy front in March 1918. St. Clair was the son of Robert Dunn and Charlotte… Read More »

Degagne, Pierre George (Germaine)

Pierre George (Germaine) Degagne was born on 15 June 1861 in Laterriere, Chicoutimi, Quebec. His parents were George Degagne and Marie Illide Dubois. Siblings included Georgina, Naemie, Laura, Charles, George, Maria, Clovis and Ida. By 1881 the family was living in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Pierre moved west and settled in Rat Portage (later known as… Read More »