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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Sharples, Arthur Henry

‘Surviving in the war was, most times, just a matter of sheer luck,’ Art Sharples told his daughter, Marg. ‘ Near the end of the war, my buddy, George and I were approaching what we figured was a deserted pillbox. George was leading a horse, a pitiful creature he’d picked up along the way. We… Read More »

Cusson, Philibert Joseph

Philibert Joseph Cusson was born on 29 January 1899 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Joseph Edmond Cusson was from L’Assomption, Quebec while his mother Marguerite Chamberland was from Nashua, New Hampshire. Joseph and Marguerite married on 24 October 1893 in St Boniface, Manitoba. They gave birth to two children, Joseph Alexandre… Read More »

Skeet, Peter

According to his attestation papers, Peter Skeet was born in March of 1898 at Bear Point on Lake of the Woods, Kenora. He was the son of George and Mawkos Skeet who were both living at the time of attestation. With occupation given as trapper and his father George at Bear Point as next of… Read More »

Major, Edward

Edward Major was born on 21 January 1901 in Northampton, Northamptonshire in England. His father David Major was from Fenny Stratford in Buckinghamshire while his mother Kate Mayfield was from Crewe in Cheshire, Crewe located about 200 kms northwest of Fenny Stratford. David and Kate had married in 1895, marriage registered in the district of… Read More »

Ritchie, George

George Ritchie was born on 6 June 1897 in Belfast, Ireland. His parents were Holden and Jane Ritchie. Siblings included: Helena (b. 1891), Grace(b. 1896), Jean (1900 – 1964), Charlotte (b. 1902 – 1961), and Benjamin (1905 – 1955). In August of 1903 the family immigrated to Canada arriving aboard the ‘Bavarian’. The 1911 Canadian… Read More »

Dufour, George Thomas

The son of Thomas and Mary (née Graham) Dufour, George Thomas Dufour was born on 20 October 1879 in Mattawa, Ontario. According to the  1891 Canada census both of his parents were born in Quebec but by the birth of their first child, a daughter Celia in 1875, the family was living in Mattawa. Another… Read More »

Millar, John James

Private John James Millar enlisted in July 1915, at age 20. He served with the Yukon Motor Machine Gun Battery and died of wounds in March 1918, during the German Spring Offensive. John was the son of James Millar and Katherine Janet Robertson of Winnipeg, Manitoba. James, a shoemaker, was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland and… Read More »

Finlayson, George Walter Stewart

Private George Walter Stewart Finlayson enlisted in January 1916 and served overseas for three years. He was wounded in February 1917 but he survived the war and returned to Canada in May 1919. George was the son of Nichol and Elizabeth Finlayson of Kenora, Ontario. His grandfather Hector Finlayson had been one of the early… Read More »

Deacon, Lester Jerome

Lester Deacon was born in 1895 in Rat Portage, now Kenora. His father Thomas Russ Deacon, a civil engineer, had moved there in 1892 as manager of the Ontario Gold Concessions and was also managing director for the Mikado Gold Mine. Thomas Deacon was a member of the town council and served as town engineer…. Read More »

Lewis, William

Shortly after Britain declared war in August 1914 the Canadian government proposed raising an Expeditionary Force to send overseas. By late September a contingent of 32,000 volunteers had been assembled at the new military camp in Valcartier, Quebec. Two thirds of the men in this 1st Canadian Contingent were born in the British Isles including… Read More »