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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Loranger, Oliver Raoul

Oliver Raoul Loranger was born on 17 November 1896 in the township of Bloomer in the county of Marshall in Minnesota where his family farmed. His father Joseph Napoleon Loranger was from Joliette, Quebec while his mother Zephrina Beaudry was from nearby Saint-Alexis. By the time of the 1885 US census both were living in… Read More »

Walters, Frederick

Private Frederick Walters was married and the father of eight children when he enlisted in March 1916. His two oldest sons also served during the war and all three of them returned home in 1919. Fred and his wife Emily (née Golding) had immigrated to Canada in 1908 and settled in the town of Kenora,… Read More »

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 »

Fawcett, Edwin

Edwin Fawcett was born on 14 September 1900 in Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, England. His father Edwin Fawcett was from Birstwith, Yorkshire while his mother Mary Whitteron was from nearby Follifoot in Yorkshire, the communities about 80 kilometres from Stockton-on-Tees. The couple married during the second quarter of 1899 in the registration district of Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Edwin… Read More »

Haldane, William

William Haldane was born on 4 October 1896 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was the second son of William Haldane Sr and Catherine (Kate) Lightfoot who had married on 27 July 1892 in Winnipeg. The couple gave birth to John in 1893 and another son, Clifford in 1898. Sadly, William Sr died in April of 1900,… Read More »

McDonald, Walter John

According to his baptism record, Walter John (Jack) McDonald was born on 19 November 1896 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Duncan Alexander McDonald was from Ontario while his mother Mary Elizabeth Kerr was from Scotland, the couple marrying on 21 October 1886 in East Selkirk, Manitoba. By the time of the… Read More »

Masterton, Alexander

Alexander Masterton was born on 2 February 1888 in Carnwath, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His father John Masterton, a railway labourer, was from Carnwath while his mother Barbara Walkinshaw was from Carlops, Peeblesshire. The couple married on 21 January 1880 in Carnwath. Barbara had given birth to daughter Annie Walkinshaw in 1878 in Carnwath, Annie later assuming… Read More »

Paulsen, Hans

Private Hans Paulsen was born in Oslo (Christiania), Norway and immigrated to Canada with his wife Mathilda around 1904. Mathilda had a son, Karl Johan (Carl John), who was born in Norway in 1891 or 1892. With Hans she had another son, Hans William, who was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Ocober 1904. Hans and… Read More »

Chinn, Edward John

Edward John Chinn was born on 21 March 1886 in Cheddar, Somerset in England, birth registered during the second quarter of 1886 in the District of Axbridge. Other sources such as censuses, his obituary, and his service record give varying years of birth, from 1883 to 1888. His father John Chinn, a butcher, was from… Read More »

Ritchie, George

George Ritchie was born on 6 June 1897 in Belfast, Ireland. His parents were Holden and Jane Ritchie. Siblings included: Helena (b. 1891), Grace(b. 1896), Jean (1900 – 1964), Charlotte (b. 1902 – 1961), and Benjamin (1905 – 1955). In August of 1903 the family immigrated to Canada arriving aboard the ‘Bavarian’. The 1911 Canadian… Read More »