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These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.
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Frederick Alfred (Fred) Mongrain was born on 3 October 1895 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Captain Alfred Mongrain was from Trois Rivieres, Quebec and had come to the area around 1877. His mother Marie Perrault was born in St Anne, Manitoba and had moved to Rat Portage in the mid 1880’s…. Read More »
Smith brothers Frank (seated) and David (standing), 1918 David William Smith (aka Bill, Billy) was born on 7 September 1892, birth registered in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. Both from Quebec, his parents were Jacob Smith, a baker, and Catherine Coile, the couple marrying in 1876 in Montreal. (Unmarried at the time… Read More »
Leslie Stephen Morley was born on 30 April 1899 in Virden, Manitoba. His parents Samuel Edward Morley and Mary Jane Williams, both of their families farming in nearby Watt, had married in Bracebridge, Ontario on 16 August 1881. The couple were to farm in Watt where children Robert Edward (1882), Catherine Ann (1884), Hannah Jane… Read More »
Douglas Burchall was born on 7 October 1891 in Bredbury, Cheshire, England. His parents were William James and Margaret (née Ballantyne) Burchall who had married during the last quarter of 1873 in Ashton under Lyne, Cheshire. By the 1901 England census the family was living in Bredbury, Cheshire, occupation of William listed as a teacher… Read More »
Wilfred Russell Steep was born on 13 May 1896 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, date confirmed by his Manitoba Birth Registration record. His father Doctor John Robert Steep was born about 1860 in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine in 1886 and licensed to practice Allopath Medicine the next year. Wilfred’s mother… Read More »
Donald MacKenzie was born on 13 November 1893 in Upper Bayble, Stornoway, County of Ross, Scotland. His father Alexander MacKenzie and mother Flora MacRae had married 22 January 1884 in Stornoway, Alexander’s occupation listed as fisherman. By the 1901 Scotland census household members were parents Alexander and Flora, and children Angus (16), Isabella (14), Roderick… Read More »
Sergeant Owen Walters signed up with the third overseas contingent in January 1915 and spent 3-1/2 years in England and France. He was wounded during the advance on Cambrai in the last weeks of the war. Owen was the oldest son of Frederick Walters and Emily Golding of Kenora, Ontario. Fred and Emily were originally… Read More »
Corporal Paul Frank Padberg was called up in May 1918, at age 21, and he served for a year in Canada and Siberia. Paul, often known as Pat, was born on 30 December 1896 in the Netherlands. He may have been born in the city of Leeuwarden or his family may have moved there when… Read More »
Although a birth record was not found, according to a family tree on ancestry.ca, George Franklin Thomas (Frank) Burlington was born on 9 November 1889 in Minnedosa, Manitoba. His father John Charles Burlington, a carpenter, was from Chicago, Illinois while his mother Anne Mary Powell was from Ontario. The couple gave birth to their first… Read More »
Corporal William Herbert Richardson enlisted in July 1915 and served for three and a half years in Canada, Great Britain and France. He was wounded at the Somme and he returned to Canada in October 1918. William was the youngest son of John Richardson and Betsy Ann Stubley. John was a carpenter and millwright and… Read More »
