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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Degagne, George

George Degagne was born on 08 June 1893 in Rat Portage (later known as Kenora), Ontario. He was the oldest son of Pierre Degagne  and Florida Charron. Siblings included: Emile (1894-1953), Joseph (1896-1966), Leo (b. 1897), Maria (1899-1899), Albert (1901-1901), Ida (1902-1903), Flora (b. 1904) and Clovis (1906-1915). The 1911 census shows the family  living… Read More »

Roberts, Frederick Owen

Frederick Owen Roberts was born on 10 March 1900 in Keewatin, Ontario, a small town just west of present day Kenora. His father Owen Ellis Roberts, born in 1858 in Bala, Merionethshire in Wales, immigrated to Canada in 1882, arriving in Quebec on 26 June on the Circassian. He settled in Winnipeg where he married… Read More »

Wilding, Alfred John

Lance Sergeant Alfred John Wilding enlisted in February 1916 and served overseas for three years. He was wounded twice but he survived the war and returned to Canada in June 1919. Alfred was born on 3 February 1890 in Stagsden, Bedfordshire, England. His parents were Harry Wilding, a farm worker, and Jane Elizabeth Hobbs. Harry… Read More »

Hargrave, John Clifford

John Clifford Hargrave was born on 10 July 1898 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father John Gordon Hargrave was from Perth, Ontario, and had come to the Red River Settlement with his family around 1873 where his father founded Hargrave and Company a few years later. First a retail and wholesale grocery and coal and wood… Read More »

Kennedy, Norman Walter

Norman Walter Kennedy was born on 10 October 1900, his birth registered in the RM of Rosedale in Manitoba. His later obituary gave his place of birth as Eden, a small community just north of Neepawa. His parents were John Walter Kennedy and Mildred Maria Henderson, both from the Kawartha Lakes area in Ontario, Walter… Read More »

Bellefeuille, Arthur Joseph Williard

Arthur Joseph Williard Bellefeuille was born on 25 January 1896 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His father Ebenezer Bellefeuille (aka Albini, Edward) was from the Pembroke area in Ontario. According to his later obituary Ebenezer relocated to the Rat Portage area in 1884, his parents and some of his siblings later… Read More »

Larson, John

John Larson’s name appeared in the 10 June 1916 edition  of the Kenora Miner and News for enlisting with the 197th Battalion. His identity and service could not be confirmed.  

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 »

Chinn, Edward John

Edward John Chinn was born on 21 March 1886 in Cheddar, Somerset in England, birth registered during the second quarter of 1886 in the District of Axbridge. Other sources such as censuses, his obituary, and his service record give varying years of birth, from 1883 to 1888. His father John Chinn, a butcher, was from… Read More »

Clark, Charles Alfred

‘The Peterborough Boys’ was a name given to a group of young men from the Peterborough area of England who made their way to live in Kenora.  Many of them were single, working for the railway and living at the Y.M.C.A. in Kenora. They spent countless hours together in their spare time to socialize and… Read More »