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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Hay, Gordon Climie

Captain Gordon Climie Hay enlisted in 1915 and served in France and Belgium for more than two years. He was wounded in September 1916 during the Somme Offensive and returned to Canada in August 1919. Gordon was the son of John Climie Hay and Araminta (Minnie) Adelaide Copeland of Listowel, Perth County, Ontario. John was… Read More »

Harris, Edward John

Edward John Harris was born on 13 November 1883 in Abingdon, Berkshire, England. His parents Frank Henry Harris, an emery wheel and machine maker, and Sarah Jane Reeves had married during the first quarter of 1878 in the registration district of Wantage in Berkshire. Edward had two older siblings, Muriel Hannah (1879) and Henry Reeves… Read More »

Dahm, Aloysius Bonaventure

Aloysius (Allie) Bonaventure Dahm was born on 14 July 1893 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Christian Dahm was from Rockville while his mother Elizabeth Brunenkamp was from Buffalo City, both in Wisconsin, USA. The young couple first lived in Saskatchewan (called the Northwest Territories at the time) where they gave birth… Read More »

Denault, John Arthur

  John Arthur (Jack) Denault was born on 28 April 1896 in Fort Coulonge, Quebec. His parents, both born in Quebec, were Joseph and Marie Anna (née Paré) Denault who had married in 1879 in LaPasse, Ontario. Children born to the couple were Joseph Edward (1880), Mary (1882), James Frank (1886), Jane (1889), Michael William… Read More »

Billedeau, Hector George Albert

Born on 11 November 1897 in Keewatin, Ontario, Hector George Albert was the son of Hormidas Bilodeau/Billedeau (b Beauharnois St Clement, Quebec) and Sarah Pelletier/Pelchie (b Aroostook Junction, Victoria, New Brunswick) who had married 5 November 1893 in Keewatin. The Billedeaus (most common spelling used) had a large family, and Albert’s siblings included Addie May,… Read More »

Curik, Joseph

Joseph Curik was born on 17 August 1893 in Lukov, Czechoslovakia. He immigrated to Canada in June of 1923, with his wife Alzbeta (Elizabeth) (née Kolar) and children Marie and Kvetoslavo following in May of 1924. The family settled in Kenora with Joseph finding work at the Lake of the Woods Milling Company in nearby… Read More »

McRae, Kenneth Norman

Gunner Kenneth Norman McRae, MM, was a law student when he enlisted in the Canadian Field Artillery in November 1915. He was killed by an artillery shell in September 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive. According to his attestation Kenneth was born 23 August 1893 in Bayfield, Wisconsin. In the 1901 census of Canada he’s… Read More »

Brownlee, Melville Edmison

Melville Edmison Brownlee was born on 17 August 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His parents were Charles and Bridget (née Shea) Brownlee who were first found on the 1891 Canada census for Algoma, Keewatin South with both listed as having been born in Ontario. Charles was working as a barber. The couple… Read More »

Nohlgren, Frederick Helge

Corporal Frederick Helge Nohlgren was born on 17 March 1894 in Texas. His parents, Axel Nohlgren and Sophia Larson, had both emigrated from Sweden. When he was still a baby they moved to Canada and settled in North Norfolk, Manitoba. Seven more children were born there: Nellie, Axel, Olga, Anna, Oscar, Edith and Nelson. Anna… Read More »

Baldwin, Clarence Walter

Walter Baldwin was born Clarence Walter Baldwin in Grenville, Ontario on 12 December 1883.  His parents were Eli and Minerva Ann Baldwin.  The 1901 Canadian Census shows his family living in Elizabethtown, Brockville, Ontario with his mother’s parents John and Sarah Mccready.  Father, Eli, is a farmer and Walter is listed as a farmer’s son…. Read More »