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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Nohlgren, Frederick Helge

Corporal Frederick Helge Nohlgren was born on 17 March 1894 in Texas. His parents, Axel Nohlgren and Sophia Larson, had both emigrated from Sweden. When he was still a baby they moved to Canada and settled in North Norfolk, Manitoba. Seven more children were born there: Nellie, Axel, Olga, Anna, Oscar, Edith and Nelson. Anna… Read More »

Gagnon, William Alfred

William Alfred Gagnon, the second of six sons of Joseph Gagnon and Victoria Madore, was born in Norman, Ontario on 28 March 1894. He was raised in Keewatin. The 1911 census shows William living in Keewatin his parents and siblings. He was working as a teamster at the sawmill. On 13 July 1914 William married… Read More »

Clash, Albert Clayton

Albert Clayton Clash was born on 27 September 1900 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Henry Clash was from England, sent to Canada around 1876 as a British Home Child. By the 1881 census, age given as 13, he was living with the Locke family in Sydenham, Ontario. Albert’s mother Alice Moor… Read More »

Bunting, Mary Elizabeth

Nursing Sister Mary Elizabeth Bunting enlisted in February 1916 at age 22. She served for three years at hospitals in England and France and returned to Canada in April 1919. Mary was the oldest daughter of Thomas Henry Bunting and Elizabeth McDonald of Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Thomas came from a large Irish family in Middlesex… Read More »

Hulmes, William

The Hulmes family was from Manchester, Lancashire in England where parents Thomas and Martha (Pennington) had married on 24 March 1883. Thomas was listed as a coal wharfinger (takes custody of and is responsible for goods delivered to the wharf) in the 1891 census and as a coal dealer in later censuses. Children born to… Read More »

Curik, Joseph

Joseph Curik was born on 17 August 1893 in Lukov, Czechoslovakia. He immigrated to Canada in June of 1923, with his wife Alzbeta (Elizabeth) (née Kolar) and children Marie and Kvetoslavo following in May of 1924. The family settled in Kenora with Joseph finding work at the Lake of the Woods Milling Company in nearby… Read More »

McRitchie, John

Sapper John McRitchie was born on 1 November 1873 in Englishtown, Cape Breton Island, one of at least twelve children of Donald McRitchie and Anna McLeod. By the 1890s his family had moved to the town of Rat Portage (later called Kenora), in northwestern Ontario. When the 1901 census was taken John and his brothers… Read More »

Lauzon, Emile

Private Emile Lauzon enlisted in January 1916, at age 18, and served in France and Belgium with the 7th Battalion. He returned to Canada in May 1919. Emile was the son of Antoine Lauzon and Flavie Ducharme of Pinewood, Ontario. Antoine and Flavie were married on 1 January 1887 in Marieval, Saskatchewan. Their son Antoine… Read More »

Travers, James

Private James Travers was born on 30 September 1889 in or near the town of Ince-in-Makerfield, Lancashire, England. His parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Travers, were both originally from Ireland. Ince-in-Makerfield was in an industrial region between Manchester and Liverpool and Thomas worked there as a coal miner. The family moved frequently as only two of… Read More »

Johnston, Alexander Brown

Date and Location of birth: Alexander Brown Johnston was born June 1, 1887, Charlestown, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. He was the second of seven sons born to David and Agnes Johnston. David (born 1863, Death Fife, Scotland) and Agnes Keir Brown (born 1863, Dunfermline) were married in Dunfermline, June, 1883. All their children were born in… Read More »