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, Henry John

According to his attestation papers, Henry John Hansen was born on 01 May 1892 in Keewatin, Ontario. (His baptism, obituary, and grave marker supports the date of birth as 01 May 1893). His parents were Johan (John) Haakon Hansen and Ida Malis Olson. Siblings included: Karine Hulda (b. 1895), Myrtle (b. 1896), Arthur (b. 1898)… Read More »

Fahey, John Ernest

John Ernest Fahey was born on 20 September 1897 in the Bass River area of Weldford, Kent in New Brunswick where his family farmed. His parents, both from New Brunswick, were John Fahey and Estella Johnston. Children born to the couple were Jane (1886), Gordon (1888-1888), Edward William (1889), Mary Winnifred (1891), Lillian Emeline (1894),… Read More »

Harkins, Alexander

Alexander Harkins was born on 8 July 1898 in Cloquet, Minnesota, USA. His father Joseph Patrick Harkins was from Quebec City and had moved to Keewatin in northwestern Ontario (near Kenora) to work in the lumbering/sawmill industry. His mother Sarah Stewart was from Walkerton, Ontario. The couple married in Keewatin in 1888 and gave birth… Read More »

Preece, Alfred

Private Alfred Preece was born on 16 October 1894 in Newdale, Manitoba. His birth name was Abraham Alphonse Preece and his parents were Thomas William Preece and Mary Jane Threadkill. Thomas was born in England and immigrated to Canada as a child. Mary was born in Ontario and both of her parents were from England…. Read More »

Clemons, Charles Edward

Charles Edward Clemons was born on 2 February 1894 in the Portland, Leeds area of Ontario where his family farmed. His parents were George Clemons and Fanny Victoria Preston, the couple marrying in 1890 in Singleton, Ontario. Children born to the family were Gertrude (m Henry Primrose) (1892-bef 1964), Charles, Emily (m Edward John Mott)… Read More »

Francis, David

Private David Francis arrived in France in August 1916 and joined the 43rd Battalion in the field in September. He was killed in action two weeks later in the attack on Regina Trench, one of 24,000 casualties suffered by the Canadian Corps during the Somme Offensive. David was the oldest son of James Francis and… Read More »

Richardson, Samuel Frank

Sapper Samuel Frank Richardson came to Canada as a Home Child in April 1906, at age 13. He enlisted with the Canadian Engineers in 1916 and served for three years in Canada, the UK and France. Frank was born on 5 February 1893 in the parish of Govan, Scotland. Govan is on the south side… Read More »

Vettergreen, Charles William

Charles William Vettergreen was born on 09 October 1880 in Limehouse, London, England. His parents were mariner Charles Alfred Vettergreen and Mary Ann Nicholas. Siblings included his brothers Albert (b. 1884) and Arthur (b. 1887). Charles William was working as a stationary packer in London when he married Selena Caroline Pritchard on Christmas Day 1901…. Read More »

Lingwood, John

Soldier, actor, carpenter, town constable, radio repairman, cattle rancher, sewer inspector and those were just a some of the many jobs John Lingwood held over his lifetime. But it was his time as a soldier that most influenced his life. John Lingwood was born March 2, 1883 in Bareilly, India, the first child of British… Read More »

Stuart, Alexander Garden

The son of Jessie Garden, Alexander Garden was born on 16 January 1874 in Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. At the time of his birth Jessie, also born in Auchterless, was working as a domestic servant. The next year Jessie married Robert Stewart, farm servant,  of nearby Kennethmont and by the 1881 Scotland census Alexander had assumed… Read More »