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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Meikle, Ivie

Ivie Meikle was born on 31 October 1885 in Catrine, Ayrshire, Scotland. A village on the River Ayr, Catrine was constructed around one of the first cotton mills (1787)  in Scotland that was enlarged in 1823 by adding a bleaching works. Ivie was the son of Thomas Meikle and Elizabeth Garvan who had married on… Read More »

Wilson, Victor Stilwell

Their first born child, Victor Stilwell (also spelled Stillwell, Stewell) Wilson was born on 17 March 1888, birth registered in the Township of Pickering. His father Thomas Fawcett Wilson had been born in Green River, Pickering  while his mother Annie Elizabeth Spence was from nearby Cedar Grove. The couple married on 2 June 1886 in… Read More »

Lucas, Charles Joseph Anthony

Charles Joseph Anthony Lucas was born on 28 June 1884 in Hackney, London, England. His father Anthony Lucas was from Cologne, Germany while his mother Jessie Ann Hutchings was from Southampton, Hampshire. The couple had married on 1 July 1866 in St Mary Stratford Bow, Tower Hamlets, London. At the time of the marriage Anthony… Read More »

Raleigh, Frederick Patrick

Private Frederick Patrick Raleigh was the son of Edmund Raleigh and Annie Franks of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Edmund was born in Ireland around 1851 and came to Canada with his family as a child. They lived in Quebec for several years before settling in Almonte, North Lanark County, Ontario. Edmund’s youngest brother, John Patrick, was born… Read More »

Lacasse, William

Born on 2  December 1892 in Keewatin, Ontario, William Lacasse was a middle son of Anselme (more commonly known as Samuel) and Wilhemina Melina (née Desmarais) Lacasse, parents being French Canadian, originally  from the Ottawa/Gatineau area. Samuel and Melina married on 27 April 1885 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Melina’s family having moved to… Read More »

Soderberg, Paul Leonard

Paulus Leander Söderberg was born on 6 June 1897 in Hotogen, Jämtland in Sweden. His father Anders Petter (PГҐlsson) Söderberg was born in 1857 in Kölsjön, Hassela in Gävleborg while his mother Ingeborg Danielsdotter was born in 1873 in Hotagen. The couple married on 27 July 1891 in Hotagen. Children born in Hotagen were Nester… Read More »

Maxwell, James Blythe

James Blythe Maxwell was born on 15 January 1896 in Keewatin in northwestern Ontario near present day Kenora. In early years he went by the name of Blythe while in later years as James. His father James Wellington Blythe Maxwell, a saw filer, was from Chelsea, Quebec a community about ten kilometres north of Ottawa…. 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 »

Caron, Joseph Eugene Peter

Joseph Eugene Peter Caron was born on 18 January 1876 in the St James Ward of downtown Montreal, baptized in the Cathedrale St Jaque le Majeur. His father Onesime Caron, a tinsmith, was from Quebec City while his mother Emelie Benenfant was from Rivière du Loup. The couple had married in October of 1870 in… Read More »

Brash, Robert Earl

Private Robert Earl Brash enlisted in Winnipeg in April 1915 and arrived in France three months later. He served for almost a year with the scout section of the 8th Battalion (Winnipeg Rifles). After being wounded at Mount Sorrel he was invalided to Canada in 1917. Robert was born on 12 October 1881 in Wyebridge,… Read More »