Kenora Great War Project

 

You can also view an Alphabetical List

The People

soldier_photobar

These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.

Search by name, or filter the search results using the list of options below.

Boyd, Robert Hugh

According to his attestation papers, Robert Hugh Boyd was born on 9 April 1894 in Gilbertstown, Dunkineely, Donegal, Ireland while his obituary gives the date as 6 July 1894. Farmers, his parents were John and Eliza(beth) (née Shaw) Boyd. As found in the 1901 Ireland census household members were John and Eliza, John’s brother Andrew,… Read More »

Cotter, Thomas Joseph

Thomas Joseph Cotter was born on 27 March 1891 in Quebec City. Both of his parents Andrew Cotter and Mary Jane O’Neill were born in Quebec to Irish immigrants. The couple married on 21 April 1884 in Quebec City. Over the years Andrew worked as a plumber as did some of his sons. Thomas had… Read More »

McKay, Archie Kenneth

Archie Kenneth McKay was born on 27 April 1882 in Upper Clyde in the county of Shelburne in Nova Scotia. His father James Lewis McKay was from Upper Clyde, while his mother Elizabeth Barss Smith was from nearby Brookfield. The couple married in Brookfield on 29 September 1875. Children born to the family were Otis… Read More »

Witty, Robert William

Robert William Witty was born  on 18 January 1893 in Rudston, Yorkshire, England. His parents Robert Goforth and Jane Elizabeth  (Chambers) Witty had married during the first quarter of 1892, marriage registered in the district of Bridington, Yorkshire East Riding.  By the 1891 census, he  had two brothers, Charles R. (b 1884), and Jeremiah (b… Read More »

Byington, Charles Floyd

Charles Floyd Byington was born on 10 May 1896 in Portland, Leeds, Ontario. His parents were Charlotte Byington and George Warren but he was raised by his grandparents Napoleon and Ruth (Dunn) Byington as their son. Napoleon and Ruth’s children, thought as siblings to Floyd, were David (1872), George (1875-1942), Milton (1877), Charlotte (1880-1973), Johanna… Read More »

Sexsmith, Richard Franklin

Private Richard Franklin Sexsmith and his brother Mark Sexsmith arrived in France in September 1917. They were both killed in action a month later at the Battle of Passchendaele, while serving with the 52nd Battalion. Richard was son of Joseph Sexsmith and Emily Georgina Orr of Faraday Township, Hastings County, Ontario. Joseph and Emily were… Read More »

Taylor, Samuel Joseph

  Samuel Joseph Taylor was born on 13 June 1885 in Lurgan, County Armagh in northern Ireland. His parents were Absalom Taylor, a shoemaker, and Mary Ann Stevenson, the couple marrying on 18 February 1889 in Lurgan. At the time of the marriage Absalom was a widower. Samuel had an older sister Susan (born 1883)… Read More »

Campbell, Duncan Edwin

Private Duncan Edwin Campbell was married and the father of two young children when he enlisted in the Canadian Army Service Corps in February 1916. He served in England for six months before being invalided back to Canada due to illness. Edwin was born on 26 April 1880 in Hanover, Grey County, Ontario with his… Read More »

Webber, Aubrey Michael

Private Aubrey Michael Webber enlisted in August 1915 and served in Canada, the UK and France. He became very ill with tuberculosis and he was invalided to Canada in the spring of 1918 to continue his recovery. Aubrey was the son of Samuel George Webber and Harriet Mason of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. Samuel and Harriet… Read More »

Hicks, Arthur Norman

Arthur Norman Hicks was born on 16 June 1900 in Deseronto, Ontario, date and place confirmed by his Ontario birth record. His parents William Hicks and Hannah Davy were from the Deseronto/Napanee area, marrying in Deseronto on 10 October 1899. At the time William was working as a cabinet finisher. The young family settled in… Read More »