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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Weston, Henry James

Although he gave his date of birth as 9 May 1882 on his attestation papers, born in Maidenhead, Berkshire in England, Henry James Weston’s birth was registered during the second quarter of 1884. His parents Henry Weston and Emily Looker had married during the second quarter of 1882 in the same registration district. Henry had… Read More »

Clarkson, John Gordon

Lance Sergeant John Gordon Clarkson enlisted in November 1915 and served overseas with the 116th Battalion. He was seriously wounded in the last months of the war and he returned to Canada in May 1919 to continue his convalescence. Gordon was born on 31 March 1891 in Rat Portage, Ontario, the youngest son of James… Read More »

Dion, Joseph

Corporal Joseph Dion enlisted in Winnipeg in May 1915, at age 21, and served in France with the 10th Battalion. He was killed in action in April 1917. Joseph was the youngest son of Ferdinand (Frank) Joseph Dion and Emilie Michaud. Ferdinand and Emilie were both born in Quebec. By the early 1880s they were… Read More »

Harrison, Edmund William

Edmund William Harrison was born on 2 September 1883 in Souris, Manitoba, birth registered in the RM of Glenwood. His father James Morrell Harrison was from Ontario while his mother Annie Phillips was born in Scotland. James was a Methodist minister and like many Methodist ministers of the day was sent west in the early… Read More »

Matthews, Charles Gordon

Lieutenant Charles Gordon Matthews enlisted in August 1915 and served for almost two and a half years in Canada, Great Britain and France. He enlisted again during the Second World War and was commissioned as a Major in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. He was decorated with the Order of the British Empire in… Read More »

Rochester, Ernest Marshall

The Germans used massive amounts of artillery in the First World War and more than half of Allied casualties were the result of artillery fire. Gun batteries were a frequent target, to put them out of action, and both sides developed methods to locate and destroy batteries. Sergeant Ernest Marshall Rochester served with the 30th… Read More »

Comeau, Louis Philippe

  Corporal Louis Philippe Comeau enlisted in June 1915, at age 16, and served in France and Belgium with the Canadian Field Artillery. He was wounded at the Somme but he survived the war and returned home in May 1919. Louis was the only son of Paul Comeau/Comeault and Cecile Virginie Beaubien of Winnipeg, Manitoba…. Read More »

McLellan, Murdoch

Murdoch McLellan was one of many recent immigrants to enlist for service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. Murdoch, born in Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland in 1894, came to Canada in the spring of 1913 to settle in Keewatin, Ontario where his mother Mary’s brother, James Dempster, had settled several years earlier along… Read More »

McKinnon, John Daniel

Their first born child, John (Jack) Daniel McKinnon was the son of Donald (Dan) and Ellen  (Nellie) (née Doulan) McKinnon who had married 26 June 1895 in Orillia, Ontario. For the 1901 Canada census the family was living in Orillia where Donald was working as a general labourer. Household members were Donald, age 35, Ellen,… Read More »