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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Woods, John Stanley

John Stanley Woods was born on 3  January 1889 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Arthur Woods, son of Irish immigrant Russel Woods and Quebec born Eliza Huston, grew up on a farm in the Kildare/Joliette, Quebec region. His mother Harriet Ross, daughter of William and Margaret (née Caswell) Ross was from… Read More »

Fraser, John James

John James Fraser was born on 22 August 1877 in Dundee, New Brunswick, a small sister community of Dalhousie in the county of Restigouche in northeastern New Brunswick. His attestation papers gave his father John Fraser as next of kin but John was actually his stepfather. Born in Nova Scotia, James’ father was David Grant… Read More »

Bamford, Norris

According to his attestation papers, Norris Bamford was born on 5 November 1892 in Fort Coulonge, Quebec. Located on the north side of the Ottawa River in Quebec, Fort Coulonge is about 120 kilometres northwest of Ottawa/Hull. Norris’ father was Edward Bamford who had immigrated to Canada from England as a child according to census… Read More »

Godin, Phillipe

Background: Keewatin, Ontario, added one more person to its small population with the birth of Phillipe Godin on November 21, 1888, son of Joseph [Norbert] Godin, who was employed as a Timekeeper, and his wife, Mary Morrison. Phillipe was baptized January 8, 1888 by Father J. Baudin, OBI. In some family records, Phillipe is referred… Read More »

Battersby, David

David Battersby was one of an estimated 25,000 men who wanted to do their duty in the Great War, but were declared medically unfit. In Battersby’s case it wasn’t for lack of trying as he enlisted twice in an attempt to serve king and country. Born in Renfrew, Scotland, Feb. 12, 1876 to Robert Battersby… Read More »

Millar, Kenneth

Kenneth Millar was an accomplished bagpiper and while only in Keewatin for a short time before enlisting, he was already a familiar face and sound in the community. Millar, born 22 June 1882 in Inverness, Scotland to Kenneth and Margaret Millar, had arrived in Canada on May 4 of 1914 bound for Keewatin with $25… Read More »

Grace, James William

Private James William Grace was living in Kenora, Ontario when he enlisted in the fall of 1915. He was wounded at the Somme in October 1916 and invalided back to Canada the following spring. James was the oldest son of James Henry Grace and Matilda Ducharme of Kenora, Ontario. His parents were both born in… Read More »

Webb, George Edward

George Edward Webb was born on 15 July 1897 in Ipswich, Suffolk in England. His mother Jane Clarinda Webb, a domestic servant, was born in 1869 in the village of Lawshall, Suffolk, about 50 kilometres southeast of Ipswich. She was the daughter of Harry and Mary Ann (née Reynolds) Webb who had married in 1863… Read More »

Flatt, James Ruskin

Signaller James Ruskin Flatt enlisted with the Canadian Field Artillery in May 1918 and served in Canada and Great Britain for fourteen months. Ruskin was the oldest son of Reverend Menotti C. Flatt and Ida Elizabeth Fee of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Rev. Flatt was a Methodist minister and he and his wife were both born in… Read More »

Vipond, Howard Cameron

Howard Cameron Vipond was born on September 7, 1888 to Joseph and Janet (Cameron), in Summerstown, Glengarry, Ontario.   By 1910 he was in the Northwest, and married to Laura M. Eastman (1904). When he enlisted, he was working in Dryden as a telegraph operator. He was assigned to the 52nd Battalion. They were sent… Read More »