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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Walton, Henry Arthur

Henry Arthur (Harry) Walton was born on 15 February 1891 in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England. His parents were Arthur and Fanny (née Parfitt) Walton who had married in the second quarter of 1888 in Avon, Somerset.  Arthur was born in Bradford-on-Avon while Fanny was born in Melksham in Wiltshire, a distance of only 6.4 miles between… Read More »

Sweet, Samuel Rayburn

Samuel Rayburn Sweet was born on 01 October 1897 in Keewatin, Ontario.  His parents were Samuel Charles Sweet and Margaret Anne Christie. His siblings included Margaret (1890-1890), Sarah Jane (1901-1901), Francis Lloyd,  Alexander Charles, Mary Beatrice, Helen, Marjorie Elizabeth, Robert, Fred, Thomas Edwin and James Christie. ‘Ray’ grew up in Keewatin and in 1917 was… Read More »

Montalbetti, William Floyd

According to an Ontario delayed birth registration of 1952, William Floyd Montalbetti was born on 3 July 1883 in Kenora (Rat Portage at the time), Ontario. According to the record, his parents, both born in Italy, were Carlo (Charles) Montalbetti and Maria Malnati, the couple giving birth to twelve children with five still living at… Read More »

Van Norman, Harry Hinds

Lieutenant Harry Hinds Van Norman, MC, enlisted in January 1915 and served overseas for three and a half years. He was promoted from Private to Sergeant in October 1915 and commissioned as a Lieutenant in April 1917. He earned a Military Cross in the last weeks of the war. Harry was the oldest son of… Read More »

Duncan, Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson Duncan was listed as a teamster in the Kenora area when he enlisted signing his attestation papers in Fort Frances, Ontario on 28 July 1915. His previous employment was as a delivery/salesman for R. W. Ferrier’s grocery business. His parents Robert Ainsley Duncan and Elizabeth A. McFee moved west to the rural district… Read More »

McCullagh, Thomas

Thomas was the son of Andrew McCullagh and Mary Anne Boyd of Killybegs, Ireland. His siblings were (older) Margaret, Bella, John, Bessie, Andrew (Jr) and (younger) Susan, Jane and James. Thomas’ birth year may not be correct on his attestation papers; it may have been 1881 or 1882.  Also in WW1 was his brother, James… Read More »

Hermanson, Sveinn (Steven)

Sveinn (Steven) Hermanson was the son of Gudjon (Joseph)and Magdalen (Sigurdottur) Hermanson, born on 13 October 1893 in ReykjavГ­k, Iceland according to his attestation papers. In his early years in Canada he went by the name of Sveinn but during the war he adopted the name of Steven. It appears that he may have immigrated… Read More »

Benson, Robert John

Robert John (Bobby) Benson was born on 18 May 1894 in Davidson, Saskatchewan. His parents Hans Benedikt Johannesson and Rosa Gudmundsdottir were from Iceland, marrying on 22 July 1876 in Grenadarstadur, Sudur-Thingeyjarsysea. The couple gave birth to two children in Iceland, Egill (George) in 1875 and Vestium (Weston) in 1879. At some point after Weston’s… Read More »

Ross, George

Private George Ross earned a Military Medal for his actions in a raid at Neuville Vitasse in late April of 1918, suffered a bullet wound to his knee at Amiens, and lost his life in an accident in 1940. George Ross was born on 22 May 1889 in Smiths Falls, Ontario. His father James Herkhimer… Read More »

Dahm, Aloysius Bonaventure

Aloysius (Allie) Bonaventure Dahm was born on 14 July 1893 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Christian Dahm was from Rockville while his mother Elizabeth Brunenkamp was from Buffalo City, both in Wisconsin, USA. The young couple first lived in Saskatchewan (called the Northwest Territories at the time) where they gave birth… Read More »