These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.
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After the war the towns of Kenora and Keewatin held a reception at the Tourist Hotel in recognition of all who served during the war. As published in the 2 April 1919 edition of the Kenora Miner and News, a W Guest appeared on the list of returning veterans. His identity and service could not… Read More »
William Joseph Bellefeuille was born on 06 May 1885 in Petawawa, Ontario. He was the youngest child of Gabriel Bellefeuille and Sarah Knight. Siblings included: Ebenezer, Levi (1867-1924), Maria Louisa (1870-1949), Mary Isabella (1871-1938), Sarah Alma (1873-1938), Ida Matilda (1875-1956), Gabriel (1877-) Theophile (1879-1933) and John (1882-). By 1901 the Bellefeuille family was living at… Read More »
Barney (Baring) Viborg was born in Reykjavik, Iceland on June 24, 1892. At some point he immigrated to Canada and settled in Keewatin, Ontario. Barney was a cooper (barrel maker) at the Keewatin flour mill in 1914 when war was declared. Among the first group of 45 Kenora volunteers, he was rejected for service at… Read More »
Claude Albert Cossey was born on 22 February 1897 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. His parents, Herbert Thomas Cossey and Rose Annie Lake were married in Yarmouth in 1893. They had four children – Hylton, Ruby, Claude and Donald when they immigrated to Canada in June of 1903. Herbert was a boat builder and he… Read More »
Private John Edward McIlwaine served for two years in France and Belgium with the 43rd Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada). He was wounded twice and became ill with influenza but he survived the war. John was born on 5 April 1888 in Workington, Cumberland County, England. His parents, James McIlwaine and Margaret McLoughlan, were both… Read More »
Private Duncan McLeod (Sr.) enlisted in January 1916, at age 50, and served in France with the 16th Battalion. He was wounded at the Vimy front in February and April 1917 and invalided back to Canada the following year. All four of his sons also served in the war and two of them died. Duncan… Read More »
Acting Sergeant Adam Archibald Forbes enlisted with a railway unit in January 1917 and served overseas for two years. In the last months of the war he trained as a potential Cadet Pilot with the Royal Air Force. Adam was the son of Thomas Chisholm Forbes and Christina Kincaid of Rathwell, Manitoba. Thomas and Christina… Read More »
Private Duncan Rupert MacPherson enlisted in August 1915 and served with the 52nd Battalion in Belgium and France. He suffered shell shock at the Somme in September 1916 and he spent the rest of the war in Great Britain. The war started in August 1914 and by December a third Canadian overseas contingent was being… Read More »
Ralph Archibald Field was born on 2 June 1898 in the Vauxhall area of London, England. His father Joseph William Henry Field was from St Helena Island while his mother Emily Edith Pierce was from Islington, London. Joseph was a French polisher, a labour intensive trade that involved applying many thin coats of shellac dissolved… Read More »
William Albert Kelly was born on 3 July 1898 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His father James Kelly was the son of Irish immigrants that had settled in the village of Brussels, Huron, Ontario. His mother Martha Mathieson was born in Admaston, a small community near Renfrew, Ontario. Martha was the… Read More »