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These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.
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Born as Asgier Thorsteinsson he became known as ‘Oscar Thorsteinson’sometime after his arrival in Canada. He was the son of Thorvaldur (called Valdi) Thorsteinsson and Ragnihildur Eyolfsdottir. His mother separated from Valdi and left Iceland about 1902 taking their youngest child, Oscar, with her. She settled in Seattle, Washington. Oscar, born January 17, 1897, was… Read More »
Air Mechanic James Gowans Brown was born on 14 December 1890 in Arbroath, Forfarshire, Scotland. He was the oldest son of William Brown and Isabella Gowans. William and Isabella were married in Arbroath in 1887 and they had at least three children: Williamina (1888), James (1890) and John (1892). At the time of the 1901… Read More »
Sveinn (Steven) Hermanson was the son of Gudjon (Joseph)and Magdalen (Sigurdottur) Hermanson, born on 13 October 1893 in ReykjavГk, Iceland according to his attestation papers. In his early years in Canada he went by the name of Sveinn but during the war he adopted the name of Steven. It appears that he may have immigrated… Read More »
Thomas Charles Iliff was born on 14 September 1891 in the RM of Springfield, Selkirk, Manitoba. First born child, his parents Powers Cowley Iliff, who had arrived in Canada from Wales aboard the Circassian 29 June 1885, and Ann Matheson, daughter of William and Christiana Matheson of Springfield, had married in Springfield on 15 October 1890…. Read More »
Captain Robert William Conn was commissioned as an officer in the Canadian Army Dental Corps in August 1916. He served in Great Britain for sixteen months and was invalided home to Canada in September 1918. Robert William was born on 17 November 1881 in Stonewall, Manitoba. He was the oldest of at least ten children… Read More »
Although he gave his place of birth as Barrie, Ontario on his attestation papers, it is likely that Robert Wilson Broley was born in nearby Innisfall. He was the son of Samuel and Rebecca (Gilpin) Broley, both born in Canada to Irish immigrants. The family farmed in the Essa and Tossorontio areas of Simcoe and… Read More »
George Ernest Collins was born on 29 September 1890 in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England. His parents Walter and Clara Jane (née Bourne) Collins were both from Birmingham and had married in 1877. George had five older siblings: Walter Percival (1878), Clara Evelyn (1879), John Newton (1881), Arthur Talbot (1883), and Florence Maude (1885). Another child had… Read More »
Albert Edgar Travis was born on 16 May 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. 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… Read More »
Private Frederick Henry Welfley enlisted in Winnipeg in June 1916 and served overseas with the Canadian Army Medical Corps for three years. Frederick was the son of Martin and Magdalena Woelfle of Bentinck Township, Grey County, Ontario. Martin and Magdalena were both from Germany and Frederick was one of at least fourteen children, all born… Read More »
John Jeremiah (Jerry) Harkins was born on 6 February 1890 in Keewatin, Ontario. His father Joseph Patrick Harkins was from Quebec City and had come to the area to work in the lumbering/sawmill industry. His mother Sarah Stewart was from Walkerton. The couple married in Keewatin in 1888 and gave birth to their first child,… Read More »
