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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Blake, Alfred

Sapper Alfred Blake enlisted in February 1916 and served for three years in England, France and Belgium. He survived the war and returned to Canada in April 1919. Alfred was the son of George Blake and Emma Sanham of Hellesdon, Norwich, Norfolk County, England. George and Emma were married in Norwich in 1869 and they… Read More »

Desilet, Joseph Octave

Joseph Octave Desilet was born on 23 July 1888 in St Theodore de Chertsy, Montcalm, Quebec, date confirmed by his baptism record. His father Israel Desilet was from Joliette in Quebec while his mother Marie Leontine Perrault was from St Theodore where the couple married on 27 July 1886. At the time of the marriage… 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 »

Whitaker, Roy Wesley James

Roy Wesley James Whitaker was born in April 1897 in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. His birth was registered as 02 April but the 1901 census and his military service files have the date as 12 April.   His parents were William and Elizabeth Jane (Macfie) Whitaker.   Siblings included Alice, Vera, Beryle and Gerald.  William… Read More »

Montalbetti, Peter Charles

Peter Charles Montalbetti was born on 31 January 1897 in Kenora (Rat Portage at the time), Ontario according to his delayed birth record of 1933. He was the son of Joseph and Rosa Montalbetti, Joseph working as a section foreman for the Canadian Pacific Railway in the area at the time. By the time of… Read More »

Moore, Stewart William

With brown hair, gray eyes, and only 1/2 inch difference in height, the Moore twins were born on the same day, had their medical examinations on the same day, both were working as trainmen for the Canadian Pacific Railway at the time of the war, and both were called up for service on the same… Read More »

Roy, Margaret Allison

Birth, Family and Early Years: Margaret Allison Roy was born May 14, 1879, in Listowel, Perth County, Ontario. She was the only daughter of David Roy, who had been born Scotland, and his wife, Agnes (maiden name Fortune). David and Agnes married in Listowel in 1877 and began their family a year later. James Elgin,… Read More »

Shaw, Stanley Richard

Stanley Richard Shaw was born on 9 November 1896 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His parents William Shaw and Harriett Jane Swan were both from England, marrying on 14 May 1883 in Wallasey, Cheshire. The couple gave birth to two children in Wallasey, son William Beresford in 1885 and daughter Beatrice… Read More »

Anderson, David

David Anderson was born on 19 February 1890 in Colmonell, Ayrshire, Scotland.  His parents were William Anderson and Mary Colvin. Siblings included Catherine (b. 1882) and William (b. 1885).  By the 1901 Scottish census, father William was not with the family.  In June 1910 David immigrated to Canada.  The passenger list showed him going to… Read More »

Hilliard, Charles Edwin

According to his attestation papers, Charles Edwin Louis Hilliard was born on 23 August 1884 in Whitemouth, Manitoba. His father was Louis Hilliard, a Norwegian that had immigrated to Canada in 1870 (date found in 1901 Canada census), and his mother was Ann McGinnis, origins given as Irish. The couple was found in the 1881… Read More »