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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McDonald, Wallace

Wallace McDonald was born on 30 August 1887 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. Both of his parents, James McDonald and Margaret Connell, were from Canada but likely married in 1882 in the States. Their first child, daughter Mabel, was born in 1884 in Jamestown, North Dakota. From there the family moved… Read More »

Gibson, Alexander

Birth date and location: Alexander Gibson was born  in his parents’ home  on an autumn morning, September 7, 1885 in Newton, Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland.   He was the second child of Alexander Gibson, a Journeyman Currier  and Agnes Crawford  Miller. Agnes and Alexander  were married November 10, 1882, in Agnes’s hometown of Dailly, Alexander.  In… Read More »

Gauthier, Albert

Albert Gauthier was born on 06 February 1898 in Norman, Ontario.   His parents were Joseph Gauthier (a miner) and Rose Delima Messier. Marie Louise (Gagnon), Arthur and Archie were his siblings. Albert spent much of his life in the Canadian wilderness – from the turn of the century to the late 1960’s.   He… Read More »

McLeod, Alexander

Four months after their success at Vimy Ridge the Canadian Corps fought at the Battle of Hill 70, suffering almost 6,000 casualties in the ten day operation. One of the fallen was Private Alexander McLeod. Alexander was the son of Duncan McLeod and Mary Munro of Keewatin, Ontario. Duncan was born in Stornoway on the… Read More »

Montalbetti, William Floyd

According to an Ontario delayed birth registration of 1952, William Floyd Montalbetti was born on 3 July 1883 in Kenora (Rat Portage at the time), Ontario. According to the record, his parents, both born in Italy, were Carlo (Charles) Montalbetti and Maria Malnati, the couple giving birth to twelve children with five still living at… Read More »

Hermanson, Magdal

Magdal (Mack) was the son of Gudjon (Joseph) and Magdalen (née Sigurdottur) Hermanson, born 21 June 1895 in Seydisfjordur, Iceland. The family emigrated from Iceland to Canada in 1904 and were found living in Keewatin, Ontario on Goat Road in the 1911 census, although Mack was not listed with the family. Gudjon was working in… Read More »

Hudson, Clifford Ross

Acting Sergeant Clifford Ross Hudson enlisted in March 1916 and served in the UK for two and a half years, most of that time with the Canadian Army Pay Corps. After the war he lived in Winnipeg and had a very successful curling career. Clifford was the younger of two sons of Frederick Albert Hudson… Read More »

Miller, Charles

The final period of the war, from 8 August to 11 November 1918, is known now as The Hundred Days Offensive. The Canadians had some of their greatest victories during that time but they also suffered heavy losses, with 20% of their total battle casualties occurring in the last three months of the war. One… Read More »

Barraclough, John Alfred

John Alfred Barraclough was born on 13 April 1884 in Elland, Halifax, Yorkshire in England. His parents David Barraclough, an insurance agent, and Martha Thompson were both from Yorkshire, their marriage registered during the 3rd quarter of 1878 in Halifax, Yorkshire. Children born to the couple were Annie (1879), James Herbert (1882), John Alfred, Samuel… Read More »

Kyle, Roy Stuart

Private Roy Stuart Kyle was called up in Vancouver in the spring of 1918. He served in Canada with a garrison regiment for seven months. Roy was the middle of five sons of Morison Kyle and Jessie Bell Stuart. Morison was born in Glasgow, Scotland and immigrated to Canada around 1880. Jessie was born in… Read More »