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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Kelpin, Paul Brault

Paul Brault Kelpin was born on 22 March 1894 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. His father Charles Patrick Kelpin was from Ste Anne de Stukely, Quebec while his mother Marie Louise Brault was from Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The couple married on 12 June 1893 in Lowell where Charles was working as a furniture dealer. A second… Read More »

Butt, Ernest William

Private Ernest William Butt was called up in February 1918 and served for a year and a half in Canada and the UK. He returned home in August 1919 and died in a hunting accident five months later. Ernest was the son of William Butt and Eleanor Kate Pearce of Kenora, Ontario. His parents were… Read More »

Sewell, Horace

Horace (Bud) Sewell was born on 2 September 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Both of his parents John Sewell and Louisa Sarah Parr were from England, immigrating to Canada around 1891 according to later census records. Their first child, daughter Gladys, was born in 1893 in Rat Portage where John was working… Read More »

Baker, William

William Baker was born on 12 January 1896 in Ontario.  It is believed that his parents were George and Margaret Baker who were living in Toronto with William and his brother, Francis, at the time of the 1901 Canadian Census. His father died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1902. By the 1911 Census, William was the… Read More »

Brown, John Miller

Born on 28 September 1888, John Miller (Jack) Brown grew up on a large farm called Monmouth House in the area of Long Sutton-Lutton in Lincolnshire, England. It appears that his father Thomas Miller Brown took over the management of the farm from his father John Brown in the mid to late 1880’s. During the… Read More »

Johnston, Christina Margaret

Christina Margaret Johnston was born on 3 July 1888 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her parents John Dickinson Johnston and Ellen Brydon married on 6 March 1878 in Guelph Township, Ontario. After giving birth to children Helen and William the family had moved to Winnipeg by 1882. They gave birth to daughter Laura that year followed by… Read More »

Hutton, Thomas

Thomas Hutton was born on 24 January 1896 in Tranent, East Lothian, Scotland.  His parents were William James Hutton and Williamina Staig.  Siblings included Lydia (b. 1881), William (b. 1884), Jessie (b. 1886), David (b. 1888), Annie (b. 1890), Minnie (b. 1892), and Mary (b. 1894). In April 1908 Thomas’ father, William, and his brother,… Read More »

Wickstrom, Isaac Albert

Isak Albert Wikström was born on 9 August 1888 in Bälinge, NederluleГҐ in Norrbotten, Sweden. Bälinge is in northern Sweden close to the Finland border. His parents Nils Petter Wikström and Maria Langström were both from the area, marrying on 19 October 1873 in Bälinge. In the various Swedish records Nils’ occupation was given as… Read More »

Tew, Arthur Francis

Arthur Francis Tew was born on 10 March 1895 in Winona, Ontario. His father William Tew was from Bambury/Hempton, Oxfordshire in England and had immigrated to Canada aboard the Parisian in 1889. His mother Ida Sturch was from North Grimsby, Ontario. The couple married on 23 December 1893 in Hamilton. Settling in Winona, William found… Read More »

Benson, William

William Benson was born on 20 December 1887 in Pickering, Yorkshire in England. His father Mark Benson was from Pickering while his mother Annie Elizabeth Swain was from West Heslerton, also in Yorkshire. The couple had married during the first quarter of 1887 in Pickering. William had three younger siblings, James (1889), Mary (1891), and… Read More »