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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Tidman, John Emanuel

Private John Emanuel Tidman enlisted in Kenora, Ontario in November 1915. He served overseas for two years with the Canadian Forestry Corps and returned to Canada in February 1919. John was the son of Johan Henrik Tidman (Tideman/Tiderman) and Sigrid Kajsa Elfström. His attestation has his birthplace recorded as Stockholm, Sweden but in Swedish records… Read More »

Spence, Robert

Robert Spence was born on 3 November 1893 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His parents Robert Spence and Elizabeth Park Johnston were both from the Orkneys in Scotland, marrying on 21 June 1888 in Burray, South Ronaldshay. At the time Robert, a widower, was working as a fisherman. Later that year… Read More »

Hives, Herbert William

Sergeant Herbert William Hives enlisted six weeks after the war started and served for 4-1/2 years in England, France and Belgium. He was wounded twice but he survived the war, returning to Canada in June 1919. Herbert was the youngest son of Hans Edgar Hives and Sarah Harper of Kensington, London, England. Hans and his… Read More »

Neuert, Orley Edgar

Orley Edgar Neuert was born on 3 August 1895, birth registered as Wallace in the Township of Wallace, County of Perth, Ontario. Orley and his siblings consistently gave their place of birth as Listowel, another town within the Township of Wallace. His father John Neuert, born in 1854, was the son of German immigrants while… Read More »

Winchester, Albert

Albert Winchester was born on 3 August 1883 in Brightling, Sussex, England. His father David Winchester was from Brightling while his mother Ellen Prevett was from Worth in Sussex. The couple had married in early 1878 in Brightling. David was a carpenter by trade and in latter years was listed as an estate carpenter on… Read More »

Laine, Charles Foulsham

Acting Corporal Charles Foulsham Laine was born on 21 February 1888 in Gateshead, Durham, England. His father, William Henry Laine, was born in Ireland and his mother, Phoebe Emily Smith, in Norwich, England. They were married in 1880 in Newcastle upon Tyne and they had five sons: William Foulsham (1883, died as an infant), William… Read More »

Hinds, Frederick

Private Frederick Hinds enlisted in April 1916, at age 52, and served in Great Britain with the Canadian Forestry Corps. He returned to Canada in June 1919. Frederick was born on 6 April 1864 in Brussels, Huron County, Ontario. His mother, Jane Kelly, was from Ireland and his father, Samuel Hinds (Hindes), was born in… Read More »

Linn, Hugh George

Hugh George Linn was born on 11 October 1900 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario, date confirmed by his Ontario birth record. By 1899 his father William Linn, born in the township of Smith, Peterborough in Ontario, had been living in Rat Portage and working as a drayman. On 27 November 1899,… Read More »

Husband, Clare Elmer

  My father was a quiet   man who never spoke about the war. He did,however, have a wooden box of faded, curled photographs of devastated landscapes, shelled buildings, groups of smiling soldiers and trains – lots of trains. Poking through those old photos as a child, I wondered what trains had to do with… Read More »