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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Hallam, William

Acting Sergeant William Hallam enlisted in February 1917, at age 28, and served with the Canadian Forestry Corps in Great Britain. William was the son of William Hallam Sr. and Cecillia McNabb of Armstrong, British Columbia. William Sr. was born in England and immigrated to Canada in the late 1880s. Cecillia was born in Ontario… Read More »

Gibson, Ervin

Ervin Gibson  was born as Ervin Hume on 24 October 1888 in Clare County, Michigan in the United States. By 1901 he was adopted by William and Sarah Gibson and living in Keewatin Ontario. Despite his young age, Ervin was working as a cook along side his adoptive parents. By the 1911 Canadian census, Ervin… Read More »

Marshman, Ainsley Thomas

Private Ainsley Thomas Marshman enlisted in New Brunswick in March 1916 and served in Canada for six months. He was discharged for medical reasons in September 1916. Ainsley was the youngest son of James Marshman and Julia Godfrey Bowser of Dorchester, Westmorland County, New Brunswick. He was born in Dorchester on 28 October 1887 and… Read More »

McDonald, John Daniel

John Daniel McDonald was born on 9 September 1897 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His father Daniel R McDonald was from southwestern Ontario while his mother Isabella Morrison was from Stornoway in Scotland. The couple married on 17 January 1896 in Rat Portage where Daniel was working as a “railroad man”…. Read More »

Simmons, Harper Crawford William

Harper Crawford William Simmons was born on 20 January 1889 in Wingham, Ontario. According to their marriage record his father Archibald Erastus Simmons was from London, Ontario while his mother Rachel Ellen Rankin was from Listowel, Ontario, elsewhere given as Gowanstown. The couple were living in St Thomas, Ontario when they married there on 10… Read More »

Lusk, Andrew Gibson

The final period of the war, from 8 August to 11 November 1918, is known now as the Hundred Days Offensive. The Canadian Corps had some of their greatest victories during that time but they also suffered heavy losses, with 20% of their total battle casualties occurring in the last three months of the war…. Read More »

Lavery, John

Joseph Pierre Jean Baptiste (John) Lavery was born on 7 January 1893 in the RM of St Francois Xavier in Manitoba. His parents Joseph Arsene Lavery and Marie Demerise St Armand were both from Quebec, marrying on 16 July 1888 in St Aubert, L’Islet. Arsene had previously been married to Beatrice Pelletier who died in… Read More »

Sprickling, Ernest

Along with a number of other fellows, the name Ernest Sprickling appeared in the 21 October 1914 edition of the Kenora Miner and News. The article stated that the volunteers had gone to Winnipeg to enlist in the war. Ernest’s identity and service could not be confirmed.  

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 »

Arbuthnot, Robert James

Private Robert James Arbuthnot joined the 67th (Western Scots) Battalion in September 1915 and went overseas the following spring. He served in France and Belgium for three years and returned to Canada in June 1919. Robert was the oldest son of Robert James Arbuthnot Sr. and Florence Teresa Henesy. Robert Sr. was born in St…. Read More »