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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Hill, John Harrison

John Harrison Hill was one many British Isle immigrants who came to Canada in the early 1900s to take advantage of land grants for would be farmers in Saskatchewan. For a $10 payment settlers were given provisional title to 160 acres of farmland, and if they could farm the land for five years and erect… Read More »

Laurenson, Robert George

According to his attestation papers, Robert George Laurenson was born on 14 June 1899 in Kenora, Ontario although at the time it was known as Rat Portage. His mother was Catherine Laurenson, daughter of Robert and Eliza  (Perrault) Laurenson. Robert and his two older siblings William and Barbara lived with  their mother and grandparents for… Read More »

Kerr, David Thomas

David, baptised as Frederick David Thomas Kerr, was born on 24 July 1894 in Richmond, Quebec. His father David Duncan Kerr had been born in Scotland. In February of 1888, David Sr married Janet Edna Lay in Richmond. Janet, also known as Jane and/or Jennie, had been raised in Melbourne, a community a short distance… Read More »

Prynn, Ernest Hazen

Private Ernest Hazen Prynn enlisted with the 144th Battalion in January 1916, at age 16. He served overseas for two and a half years and returned to Canada in April 1919. Ernest was the only son of William Prynn and Margaret Ann McDonald of East St. Paul, Manitoba. William was born in Ontario and Margaret… Read More »

Williams, James Percy

Birth date and location:  James Percy Williams was born January 24, 1890 in Fort Frances, Ontario to Jabez Williams (born July 29, 1858, New Buckingham, Norfolk, England) and Annie (born May 15, 1862 christened in July at St. Andrew, Manitoba). Annie’s maiden name was MacKenzie. The Williams family research has traced ‘Percy’s’ maternal Cree and… Read More »

Granath, Gustaf Alexander

Gustaf Alexander Granath was born on 2 May 1875 in Nyköpings Västra, Södermanland, Sweden. He was the first son of Carl Alexander Olsson and Karin Lundgren, his parents having three more sons and one daughter. The Stockholm archives in 1890 showed he moved to Stockholm from Eskistuna at the age of 15 and was living… Read More »

Fortier, Joseph Alfred

Joseph Antoine Orphidas (Alfridas) Fortier was born on 2 February 1896 in St Boniface, Manitoba. In his early life he went by the name of Alfridas, Alfred, or Doss but in later life as Joseph. His parents were Joseph and Exilda (née Leblanc) Fortier who had married in St Boniface on 4 July 1891. Joseph… Read More »

Dempster, Robert McLay

Robert McLay Dempster was one of two sons of William and Margaret Dempster of Stirling Scotland to enlist during the war. Robert and his brother William came to Canada in 1912 and settled in Keewatin where their uncle James and his wife Anne lived. All the men worked for the Keewatin flour mill, Robert as… Read More »

Middlecote, Lewis

Sapper Lewis Middlecote was married and the father of two young children when he enlisted in Kenora, Ontario in January 1915. He served overseas for three and a half years, the last sixteen months with a railway unit in France. Lewis was the son of Thomas and Sarah Jane Middlecote of Cranham, Gloucestershire, England. His… Read More »

Fomin, John

Private John Fomin enlisted in May 1916 and served for three years in Canada, England and France. He was wounded in March 1917 and invalided to Canada in December 1918 due to illness. According to his attestation John was born on 26 September 1878 in Odessa, a large city on the northern tip of the… Read More »