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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McRitchie, Roderick

Company Quarter-Master Sergeant Roderick McRitchie was the son of Donald McRitchie and Anna McLeod of Kenora, Ontario. He was born on 10 October 1868 in Victoria County, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and he had at least six brothers and five sisters. His family moved to Ontario in the 1890s and settled in Rat Portage (later… Read More »

Gibson, Ervin

Ervin Gibson  was born as Ervin Hume on 24 October 1888 in Clare County, Michigan in the United States. By 1901 he was adopted by William and Sarah Gibson and living in Keewatin Ontario. Despite his young age, Ervin was working as a cook along side his adoptive parents. By the 1911 Canadian census, Ervin… Read More »

Kenny, James

James Kenny is the son of James Kenny and Jane Davies. On the 1911 census of Keewatin Ontario, James Kenny is age 22, born Scotland, single, and a lodger. He states he is working on the tugboat Verbena and that he had come to the area in 1906.   James’ brother, John Kenny is also… Read More »

Garrow, Frank Jacob

Frank Jacob Garrow was born September 20, 1889 in Colehill, Ontario. He was the 5th child of 8 born to Joseph Garrow and Elizabeth McKinnon.   Frank’s siblings were William, Joseph, Steven, Annie, Lucy, Sarah and Agnes. The family was all born in Ontario.   Shortly after the 1901 census Joseph and Elizabeth moved their… Read More »

MacPherson, Duncan Rupert

Private Duncan Rupert MacPherson enlisted in August 1915 and served with the 52nd Battalion in Belgium and France. He suffered shell shock at the Somme in September 1916 and he spent the rest of the war in Great Britain. The war started in August 1914 and by December a third Canadian overseas contingent was being… Read More »

Cardinal, Rene Joseph

Private Rene Joseph Cardinal was working for the railroad when he was called up in May 1918, at age 23. He served in Canada until a month after the Armistice. Rene was born on 25 January 1895 in Rat Portage, Ontario. His parents, Jules Hyacinthe Cardinal and Seraphine Charron, were both from Quebec. They had… Read More »

Guernsey, George Lionel Vares

George Guernsey was born 24 May 1895 in Rat Portage (Kenora) Ontario. His parents, originally from England, were William Robert Guernsey and Frances Fuller who had arrived in Rat Portage around 1893 from Manitoba. George was one of thirteen children in the family. George enlisted with the 94th Battalion in Kenora on 17 November 1915…. Read More »

Bosman, Melville

Private Melville Bosman enlisted in March 1916 and served in France and Belgium with the 8th Battalion. He was wounded at Passchendaele in November 1917 and spent the rest of the war in the UK. Melville was the youngest son of John Bosman and Laura Sellars of Brandon, Manitoba. John grew up in a large… Read More »

Jefford, Albert Ernest

Albert Ernest Jefford was born on 16 October 1891 in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England. His parents were Ernest Jefford, an agricultural labourer, and Lydia Ann Brown. Siblings included: Lydia (b. 1882; married William Webb), Edith (b. 1884; married John Haggett), Alice Matilda (b. 1887), James William (b. 1897; served in WW1) and Dorothy May (b…. Read More »

McLeod, William

William (Bill) McLeod was born on May 22nd 1898 in Rat Portage (now Kenora), Ontario. He was the 8th in a family line of Bill McLeod’s. His parents were merchant, William Allen McLeod and Mary Wilson. Siblings included Julie (b. 1892) and John (b. 1900). Mary McLeod died in 1904 and William Sr. married Edith… Read More »