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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McKelvie, James

James McKelvie was born on 2 September 1896 in Mossend in the registration district of Bothwell in Lanarkshire, Scotland. His parents Duncan McKelvie and Jessie McKean were both born in nearby Muirmadkin. At the time of the 1881 census Duncan was lodging with Jessie’s widowed mother Janet and some of her siblings in Bothwell where… Read More »

Travis, Herbert Gordon

Herbert Gordon Travis was born on 18 October 1889 in Birtle, Manitoba. His father Herbert Travis, a music teacher/professor, was from England while his mother Edith Florine Emily Wood was from Arkona in southwestern Ontario, having moved to Manitoba with her parents and siblings as a child. The couple married on 11 March 1885 in… Read More »

Anderson, Alexander Carmichael

Alexander Carmichael Anderson was born on 24 May 1884 in Glasgow, Scotland. His parents were John Orr Anderson and Alice Roy Houston. John worked as a master joiner in Scotland. Siblings included: John (1875-1949), William (1881-1881), Alice (1886-1961) and Agnes (b. 1890). In 1905 Alexander and some of his family (father, mother & sister Agnes)… Read More »

Eaton, Margaret

Nursing Sister Margaret Eaton was 50 years old when she joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps in May 1916. She served for four years at several hospitals in Great Britain and Canada. Margaret was the daughter of Wesley Ferguson Eaton and Margaret Markle of East Flamborough Township, Wentworth County, Ontario. She was born on 11… Read More »

Biers, Richard Henry

Private Richard Henry Biers was born on 29 January 1892 in North Bay, Ontario. He had three older brothers, all born in North Bay: William James, Robert and Adam John. His parents, William Biers and Maria Hughes, had emigrated from Ireland. Sometime after Richard was born they moved from North Bay to northwestern Ontario and… Read More »

Munro, James Robert

Sergeant James Robert Munro served for 19 years with the British army before immigrating to Canada in 1911. He enlisted again during the First World War and served for almost five years with Canadian cavalry units. James was born on 23 September 1875 in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of George Andrew Munro and Elizabeth Allan…. Read More »

Knox, Thomas Robert

Robert Knox was born in Linaskea, Fermanagh, Ireland, the son of Dr. Thomas Knox and Louisa Sandels. A bank clerk, in 1913 he immigrated to Canada, arriving at St. John New Brunswick aboard the Letitia. He was bound for Toronto where he’d gained a position with the Imperial Bank, and he was then transferred to… Read More »

Torrance, Charles William

Charles William Torrance was born on 8 July 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario.  His parents William Torrance and Sophia Johnston were both from the Ottawa area, William from Ashton and Sophia from Gloucester. At the time of their marriage in 1879 in Ottawa William was working as a carpenter. Children… Read More »

Sheppard, Peter

According to his attestation papers, Peter Sheppard was born on 22 June 1886 in Glasgow, Scotland. A birth record was not found and given his gray hair he was likely older than stated. When he attested with the 190th Battalion on 21 July 1916 in Winnipeg, Peter had been living in Kenora, Ontario and working… Read More »

Nixon, Harry Jordan

Gunner Harry Jordan Nixon was 23 years old and living in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba when he was called up for service. He spent nine months overseas and returned to Canada in June 1919. Harry was born on 10 April 1895 at Stoney Lake, Dummer Township, Peterborough County, Ontario. His parents were David Nixon and… Read More »