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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Fuller, Charles Herbert

The only son and first born child of Charles Robert  and Beatrice (Litten) Fuller, Charles Herbert Fuller was on born 15 August 1894 in Reading, Berkshire, England, registration district of Bradfield. His father was from Wantage, Berkshire while his mother was from Charleton, Oxfordshire. The couple had married during the first quarter of 1894 in the… Read More »

Chandler, Frederick George

Frederick George Chandler was born on 16 September 1888 in Sydenham, Lewisham in London, England. His father James Chandler, a gas fitter, was from Brighton in Sussex while his mother Hannah Keys was from Dover in Kent. The couple had married during the first quarter of 1869 in the registration district of Dover. Their first… Read More »

Jorgenson, Martin

Private Martin Jorgenson was one of five brothers who enlisted for service in the First World War. The five boys – Jacob, Martin, John,  Gustave and Thomas – came from a large family in Whitemouth, Manitoba. Martin was killed in France in June 1917 but his four brothers survived and returned home after the war…. Read More »

Caslake, Arthur

According to his attestation papers, Arthur Caslake was born on 7 May 1881 in St Mary’s, Ontario. However it is likely that he was born as Arthur Coupland in 1879, the son of Rachel Coupland. The 1881 Canada census for St Mary’s found Rachel and Arthur living with Rachel’s widowed mother Elizabeth Coupland. In 1884,… Read More »

McLean, Reuben

On 6 June 1895 Reuben McLean was born at home on Beaton’s Island on the Winnipeg River in the Municipality of Keewatin, Ontario. He was the son of Donald (known as ‘Dan’) and Catherine  McLean.  His siblings were Henrietta, Agnes, Hugh, Catherine and William (known as ‘Bill’).  Another daughter was Margaret who had died previously… Read More »

Harrison, Edmund William

Edmund William Harrison was born on 2 September 1883 in Souris, Manitoba, birth registered in the RM of Glenwood. His father James Morrell Harrison was from Ontario while his mother Annie Phillips was born in Scotland. James was a Methodist minister and like many Methodist ministers of the day was sent west in the early… Read More »

O’Connor, John

Private John O’Connor joined the 108th Battalion in January 1916 and arrived in France a year later. He was killed in action in August 1917 at the Battle of Hill 70. John was the oldest son of Patrick O’Connor and Sarah Jane McPherson of Rainy River, Ontario. Sarah grew up at Sabaskosing on Lake of… Read More »

McDonald, Norman

Private Norman McDonald enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba and served with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps in France and Belgium. He was wounded in September 1918 but he survived the war and returned to Canada in February 1919. Norman’s birth was registered as 10 May 1879 in Dawn Township, Lambton County, Ontario. His parents, Edward McDonald… Read More »

Hedlund, Carl

Carl Gustaf Edward Hedlund was born on 28 February 1897 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. Both of his parents were from Sweden, his father Johannes Gustafsson from Bäck, Skaraborg in Västergötland, while his mother Hilda Karlsdotter was from Fredsberg, also in Skaraborg. With the encouragement of the Swedish government back in… Read More »

Reeves, Percy Harper

Percy Harper Reeves was born on 27 August 1893 in Parishville, St Lawrence County, New York. His father Samuel Reeves, a barber, was from Brantford, Ontario while his mother Mary Elizabeth (Eliza) Jesmer was from the Parishville area where her family farmed. By the time of the 1891 Canada census Eliza was living in Brantford… Read More »