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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Hansen, John William

Illness and disease caused many casualties in the First World War and some soldiers died even before they left Canada.Trooper John William Hansen of Keewatin, Ontario had three older brothers who served overseas and they all survived the war. John joined the 34th Fort Garry Horse in December 1918 and the following spring, during his… Read More »

Warnick, Fred

Theodore Woroniak was born on 28 January 1884 in Austria. In later life he went by the name of Fred Warnick. In 1912, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he married Katharine Pouck. At some point after the marriage the couple immigrated to Canada, first living in Winnipeg at the time of the 1916 census, and then in… Read More »

Thiis, Thomas

Midshipman Thomas Thiis was born on 28 December 1900 in Cardiff, Wales. His birth name was Thomas Richard Thüs and his parents were John Prout Thüs and Elizabeth Stoate Date. John’s father, Thomas Christian Thüs, was a master mariner who had immigrated to England from Norway. Over time the surname Thüs became Thiis but it… Read More »

Lavery, John

Joseph Pierre Jean Baptiste (John) Lavery was born on 7 January 1893 in the RM of St Francois Xavier in Manitoba. His parents Joseph Arsene Lavery and Marie Demerise St Armand were both from Quebec, marrying on 16 July 1888 in St Aubert, L’Islet. Arsene had previously been married to Beatrice Pelletier who died in… Read More »

Bann, Edward Hugh

Sergeant Edward “Hugh” Bann, aka Edward Edwin Bann, enlisted with the 44th Battalion in December 1914 and served with them for four and a half years in Canada, the UK, France and Belgium. Hugh was born on 18 or 19 February 1892 in Brockville, Leeds County, Ontario. His father, John Charles Bann, was a saloon… Read More »

Baxendale, William James

William James Baxendale was born 07 October 1898 in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario.  His parents were James Thomas and Amelia Maria Baxendale. He had two older sisters – Violet and Myrtle.  His father worked as a car inspector/repairer for the CPR. William received his education in Kenora. In November of 1915 he commenced working for… Read More »

McKenzie, Stewart Henry

Stewart Henry McKenzie was born on 1 February 1898 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His parents George William McKenzie and Alice Althea Alexina Donaldson were both born in Quebec, marrying in Rat Portage on 30 May 1894. It appears that they went back to Quebec for awhile, giving birth to daughter Yolande Violet… Read More »

Bircham, Philip

Private Philip Bircham was married and the father of three young children when he enlisted in December 1914. He was wounded and captured while serving in Belgium and was a German prisoner of war from June 1916 to January 1919. Philip was born on 30 May 1883 in Marylebone, London, England, the son of Philip… Read More »

McAskill, Kenneth

Private Kenneth McAskill was 43 years old and married when he enlisted in Kenora in February 1916. He spent two and a half years overseas, including 13 months in France with the 12th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops. Kenneth grew up on a small island in the Outer Hebrides, an island chain off the northwest coast… Read More »