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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Chorney, Harry

According to his obituary Harry Chorney was a veteran of the First World War. His obituary tells us he was born on 11 April 1898 in Borowe, Ukraine but his 1930 marriage record gives his place of birth as Poland. There is a village called Borowe in Poland and when the First World War started… Read More »

Jeffery, Harry

The Germans used massive amounts of artillery in the First World War and more than half of Allied casualties were the result of artillery fire. There were all different kinds and sizes of shells and they were a constant danger during battles and in the trenches as well as behind the front lines. Private Harry… Read More »

Meek, Thomas McDougall

Thomas McDougall Meek was born on 16 June 1895 in Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland.   His parents were Matthew Meek and Martha McDougall. He married Margaret Melvin on 15 January 1915 in Glasgow, Scotland and listed his occupation as ‘rivetter’. On 09 June 1916, Thomas enlisted with the 5th Battalion, Scottish Rifles (regimental # 1123). He… Read More »

Stokes, Charles

Private Charles Stokes of Kenora, Ontario enlisted in March 1916 and served overseas with the Canadian Forestry Corps for three years. Charles was born in November 1881 in Dawlish, a coastal town in the county of Devon in southwest England. His parents, William Elias Stokes and Emma Morrish, were both born in Devon. They were… Read More »

Collings, Walter Frederick

Walter Frederick Collings was born on 04 November 1890 in London, England. His parents were William Collings (a foreman in mineral water works) and Ann Sarah Bennett. Siblings included William (born 1878), John (born 1876), Edward (born 1886) and Charles (born c. 1889). Walter’s father, William, had died by 1901 and the family was living… Read More »

Agnew, John Martin

According to his service file and census records, John Martin Agnew was born on 01 October 1890 in Prince William, York County, New Brunswick. His parents were Laurence Agnew and Mary Ann Adams (née Moore). Mary Ann had been married previously and she had a son, Warren Adams, who was born in the U.S. around… Read More »

Dempster, William McLay

William McLay Dempster was one of two sons of William and Margaret Dempster of Stirling, Scotland to enlist from Keewatin during the war. William and his brother Robert had come to Canada in 1912, settling Keewatin where their uncle James and his wife Ann lived. All the men worked for the Lake of the Woods… 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 »

Hawkinson, Cornelius

Cornelius Hawkinson was born on 3 September 1895 in the Murdock, Swift County area of Minnesota, USA where his parents farmed. His father John Hakenson was born in Sweden, his surname anglicized to Hawkinson after immigration. His mother Anna Josephine Peterson was born in Minnesota to Swedish immigrants. John and Josephine married on 10 November… Read More »

Tennant, Francis Lambert

Private Francis Lambert Tennant enlisted in December 1914 and served for one year in France and Belgium and two and a half years in Canada and the UK. Francis was the son of George Tennant and Catherine (Kate) Margaret Lambert. He was the second of at least six children: Herbert (1889), Francis (1892), Janet (1894),… Read More »