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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Begg, Duncan

Duncan Begg was born on 19 July 1897 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. He was the son of James and Jemina (née Muggaberg) Begg. Originally from Selkirk/St Andrews, Manitoba, the couple had married 27 August 1891 in Rat Portage. James had  moved to the area in 1888, employed by the Hudson’s Bay… Read More »

Kendall, Reuben Duffett

Reuben Duffett Kendall was born on  28  August 1895 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), in northwestern Ontario. His father William Glanfield Kendall was from Rettendon, Essex, England. At age twenty-three William had immigrated to Canada, first living in Stratford, Ontario where he worked for the Grand Trunk Railway before moving to Winnipeg in 1882… Read More »

Waltenbery, Arthur Henry

Although he gave Bracebridge, Ontario as his place of birth on his attestation papers, Arthur Henry Waltenbery was born in nearby Dwight, Muskoka, Ontario on 17 June 1893. His father George Waltenbery, a carpenter by trade, and mother Margaret Jane McIlwain had married in 1882 in Huntsville. Children born to the couple were Emily Jane… Read More »

Bjornson, Sigmundur

According to his attestation papers Sigmundur Bjornson was born on 5 June 1889 in Ladfjord, Iceland. (His marriage record listed Hnitborg, Gokururhlid, Iceland as his place of birth while a Keewatin history book gave his date of birth as 1 June 1888.) His parents Bjorn Hannesson and Steinunn Eyriksdottir married in Kirkjubaer I Hroarstunga, Nordur-Mulasysla… Read More »

Margach, William

Private William Margach enlisted with a field ambulance unit in January 1917 in Edmonton, Alberta. He served overseas for two years and returned to Canada in March 1919. William was the son of William Innes Margach and Margaret Dunbar Hay of Edmonton, Alberta. His parents were both born in southern Ontario and they were married… Read More »

Fowler, Harold McLaren

Private Harold McLaren Fowler (aka William Harold Davis) was one of three brothers who enlisted during the First World War. Harold and his brother Roy Fowler both died in Europe in 1917. Their brother Percy Fowler died of service-related illness in 1921. Harold was the youngest of four sons of Bartholomew Fowler Jr. and Jamesina… Read More »

Lund, Lars Bernhard

Lars Bernhard Lund was born on 7 April 1894 in the village of HusГҐ in the parish of Kall in Jämtland, Sweden. His father Johan Gustav was also from HusГҐ, the son of Marta Göransdotter. He was raised by foster parents Jonas Wiksten and Ingeborg Mosesdotter, assuming the surname of Wiksten. After their deaths, Johan… Read More »

Harcourt, Cecil Copp

Lieutenant Cecil Copp Harcourt served with Canadian Corps Cyclists before being given a commission in the British army, with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was wounded twice, at the Somme and at Ypres, and invalided home to Canada in June 1918. Cecil was born on 29 May 1893 in Toronto, Ontario, the youngest of three… Read More »

Finlayson, Hector John Peter

Private Hector John Peter Finlayson was called up under the Military Service Act in February 1918, at age 25. He served for fifteen months in Canada, the UK, France and Belgium. Hector was the son of Nichol and Elizabeth Finlayson of Kenora, Ontario. Nichol’s father had been one of the early residents of Kenora, known… Read More »

Torrance, Charles William

Charles William Torrance was born on 8 July 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario.  His parents William Torrance and Sophia Johnston were both from the Ottawa area, William from Ashton and Sophia from Gloucester. At the time of their marriage in 1879 in Ottawa William was working as a carpenter. Children… Read More »