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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Mitchell, William

William Mitchell  was born  08 August 1885 in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. His parents were George Mitchell and Margaret Begg. He had four sisters – Jessie Catherine (b. 1873, m. John Duncan McKenzie), Florence (b. 1877, m. Wilkie James Brown), Minota (b. 1883, m. Edwin Stone) and Marian (b. 1887, m. George Carmichael Cooke). William… Read More »

Bergstrom, John Alfred

Johan (John) Alfred Bergström was born on 8 March 1886 in Bellvik in the parish of Dorotea in Västerbotten in northern Sweden. His parents Olof Johan (Ole) Bergström and Sigrid Mathilda Östlund were both from Dorotea, marrying on 5 July 1885. John was their first born child, with his younger siblings born in Sweden being… Read More »

Donkin, Rupert Edgar

Rupert Edgar Donkin was born on 3 May 1872 in River Philip, Cumberland, Nova Scotia. As the name would suggest the community was located in a valley along the River Philip in northwestern Nova Scotia. Around 1774 several families from Yorkshire in England were  enticed by the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia to immigrate to the… Read More »

Murphy, Alfred Henry

Staff Sergeant Major Alfred Henry Murphy served at the militia headquarters in Winnipeg from January 1915 to June 1918, followed by about two years with the Canadian Army Service Corps. He was demobilized in April 1919. Alfred was the son of John and Lucy Murphy of Greyabbey, County Down, Ireland. John was a shoemaker and… Read More »

Barker, Francis Oliver

According to his attestation papers Francis Oliver (Frank) Barker was born on 13 January 1887 in Foxboro near Belleville, Ontario. A birth record was not found and his BC death record gives his place of birth as Belleville. His father Frederick (Fred) Joseph Barker was from Shoreditch, London, England and had immigrated to Canada in… Read More »

Lewis, David Stanley

David Stanley Lewis was born on 29 July 1894 in Credit Forks, Caledon, Ontario. His father David James Lewis was from Nova Scotia while his mother Priscilla Brown was from Ontario. The couple married on 4 October 1882 in Euphrasia, Grey, Ontario where David Sr was farming. Their first born child, son Henry Owen, was… Read More »

Hodgins, Herbert Alexander

Herbert Alexander Hodgins spent much of his life in Africa, however he always considered Kenora, Ontario, where he’d spent a decade or so working in the timber business, his first home. Hodgins also served in several different army forces during his lifetime fighting for Queen and country. He first volunteered for service in 1899 as… Read More »

Loyst, John Wesley

Corporal John Wesley Loyst enlisted in March 1916 and served overseas for two and a half years. He was wounded at the Battle of Vimy Ridge but he survived the war and returned home in June 1919. John was the oldest son of John Wesley Loyst Sr. and Mary Sinclair of Chase, British Columbia. John… Read More »

LaRocque, Hillary Ulric

Hillary Ulric LaRocque was born on 30 January 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His parents Augustin LaRocque and Henriette Boivin had married on 14 April 1873 in Ottawa. Augustin had previously married Marie Clare Rochon in St Eustache in 1866 but sadly she died in 1872 in Ottawa, the couple… Read More »