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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Goee, Andrew

  Early Life: Andrew was born April 1, 1883, St. Roche, Quebec.  It is known he had a sister, Josephine, however, several searches using different spelling variations of the surname has resulted in no information about Andrew or Josephine nor their parents. Thus, most of the information for Andrew is taken from his Military file…. Read More »

Degagne, Pierre George (Germaine)

Pierre George (Germaine) Degagne was born on 15 June 1861 in Laterriere, Chicoutimi, Quebec. His parents were George Degagne and Marie Illide Dubois. Siblings included Georgina, Naemie, Laura, Charles, George, Maria, Clovis and Ida. By 1881 the family was living in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Pierre moved west and settled in Rat Portage (later known as… Read More »

Birbeck, Thomas Edson

Thomas Edson Birbeck was born on 15 November 1896 in Port Stanley, Ontario. According to William Shurtleff’s Shurtleff and Lawton Families: Genealogy and History and other sources, Thomas’ father Thomas Edson Birbeck was born in 1865 in Leeds, Yorkshire in England. At a young age he ran away from home and went to sea, later… Read More »

James, Ernest Walter

Ernest Walter James was born on 08 January 1891 in Christchurch, Hampshire, England.  He was the third son of blacksmith, Noah James and Augusta ELLEN Elliott.  His siblings included Nellie ‘Ellen’ (b. 1887), Henry Edward (b. 1888), Arthur Frederick (b. 1889), Reginald Wilfred (b. 1896), Margaret May (b. 1897) and Winifred Maud (b. 1903). Ernest… Read More »

Austin, Archie

Archie E Austin was born on 2 February 1888 in the township of Townsend, Norfolk, Ontario. His father William Edwin Austin, a blacksmith, was from Townsend while his mother Della Force was from Windham, Ontario. The couple married in 1887 in Waterford in Norfolk. Archie had a younger brother, Charles Arthur, born in 1889. Archie… Read More »

Linn, Hugh George

Hugh George Linn was born on 11 October 1900 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario, date confirmed by his Ontario birth record. By 1899 his father William Linn, born in the township of Smith, Peterborough in Ontario, had been living in Rat Portage and working as a drayman. On 27 November 1899,… Read More »

Harcourt, Cecil Copp

Lieutenant Cecil Copp Harcourt served with Canadian Corps Cyclists before being given a commission in the British army, with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was wounded twice, at the Somme and at Ypres, and invalided home to Canada in June 1918. Cecil was born on 29 May 1893 in Toronto, Ontario, the youngest of three… Read More »

Clarkson, Arthur Edwin

Private Arthur Edwin Clarkson enlisted in the first Canadian contingent in September 1914, at age 21. He arrived in France in February 1915 and died two months later at the Second Battle of Ypres. Arthur was born on 24 May 1893 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, the oldest son of Sarah Ann (Annie) Clarkson. In 1898… Read More »

Vereker, Jeffrey Edward Pendergast

The Hon. Jeffrey Edward Pendergast Vereker was a member of the English-Irish aristocracy, the youngest son of the 4th Viscount of Gort — Standish Pendergast Vereker; brother to the 5th Viscount – John Gage Pendergast Vereker; and uncle to the 6th Viscount – John Standish Vereker and the 7th Viscount – Standish Robert Vereker. A… Read More »