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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Frost, Moses

Private Moses Frost was born on 30 June 1886 in North Bay, Ontario. His parents, Moses Frost Sr. and Mary Denault, were both from the Fort Coulonge area in Quebec. Moses had five older brothers and sisters: Mary (born ca1874 in Manitoba), Joseph, David Edward and Maria (Marian) (all born in Quebec), and Samuel (born… Read More »

Purvis, Thomas Harry

Thomas Harry Purvis was born in 1897 in the Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland registration district, birth registered during the 3rd quarter. His parents were William John Purvis and Sarah Hannah Forster who had married in 1896. Thomas had a younger sister Martha who was born in 1900. It appears that Thomas’ father died in 1910…. Read More »

Reynolds, Arthur

Arthur Reynolds was born on January 1, 1892 in Blackheath, Kent in England. Upon enlistment, he gave his place of birth as Greenwich, England and named his next of kin as his mother Mary, still living in Lee, Kent England as of 1917. He appears to have immigrated to Canada to take advantage of work… Read More »

Elmer, Rudolph

Rudolph Elmer was born on 29 June 1884 in Tiel, Gelderland, Netherlands. He arrived in the Kenora District around 1908 and worked as a labourer in the employ of Mr. A. Fricker. On 20 November 1915 he enlisted with the 94th Battalion in Kenora. He had one year of service with the #8 Engineers in… Read More »

Christofferson, William Alexander

William Alexander Christofferson was born on 9 April 1899 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. He was the youngest child of Danish immigrants Hans Peter Christofferson and Ann Margaret Neilson (Nielson). After giving birth in Denmark to children Agnes (1884), Holger (1886), Johanna (abt 1887), and Elnora (1891), the family immigrated to Canada in… Read More »

Fisher, William

Sapper William Fisher was one of three brothers from Keewatin, Ontario who served in the First World War. He spent more than three years overseas and returned to Canada in March 1919. William was born on 25 January 1882 in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland. His parents, William Fisher Sr. and Elizabeth Armour, were married in Maybole… Read More »

Hutchinson, Thomas

Although Thomas Hutchinson gave his date of birth on his attestation papers as 18 August 1884 in Rosedale Abbey, Yorkshire, England, his birth was registered during the third quarter of 1883. His mother was Emma Hutchinson, born in 1866 in Rosedale Abbey, and had been working as a servant for the Read family in Muscoates… Read More »

Bougie, Joseph

According to his attestation papers, Joseph Bougie was born on 6 September 1894 in Schreiber, Ontario. His parents were Jean Baptiste Bougie and Lea Marie Marcoux who had married on 26 April 1880 in Quebec City. By the 1901 Canada census the family was living in North Bay, Ontario where Jean (John) was working as… Read More »

LaRiviere, Alexandre

Joseph Alexandre Seraphin LaRiviere was born on 1 June 1889, birth registered in the RM of Montcalm in Manitoba. His parents were Gedeon and Marie Louise (née Messier) LaRiviere who had married in 1884 in Saint Marcel, L’Islet, in Quebec where their families farmed. Three children were born to the couple in Quebec, Joseph Antoine… Read More »

Redsky, James

Private James Redsky enlisted in June 1916 and served with the 52nd Battalion in France and Belgium. He returned to Canada in January 1919. James (Esquakesik) was the son of Chief Redsky (Miskokesik) and Endopeek of Shoal Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario. Chief Redsky and his wife had at least seven sons and five… Read More »