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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Milliard, John Joseph

John Joseph Milliard was born on 14 July 1897 in Norman, Ontario. His parents, Joseph Jean and Marie (née Lebel) Milliard, were both originally from the Kamouraska area in Quebec. The couple had married 2 July 1889 in Rat Portage (later named Kenora), Ontario.  Eventually moving  to nearby Keewatin, the family grew. Children included Rose… Read More »

Oberg, Louis Anselius Martinus

According to his attestation papers, Louis Anselius Martinus Oberg was born on 8 February 1876 in Randers, Denmark. Prior to immigrating to Canada around 1909 he had been living in Sweden where, according to his WW1 service record, he had served with the Västernanland Regiment from 1892 to 1898. At some point he had married… Read More »

Mizen, Wilfred James

Driver Wilfred James Mizen enlisted in August 1915 and served overseas with the Canadian Field Artillery. He spent more than two years in France and Belgium and returned to Canada in March 1919. Wilfred was born on 13 September 1893 in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England. He had an older brother, Cecil Edward, and three… Read More »

Tomkins, Robert Edward Steele

Robert Edward Steele Tomkins was born on 3 October 1897 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father Sidney Steele Tomkins was from England, immigrating as a child with his parents to Winnipeg, while his mother Ada Hanes was from New Brunswick, both families living in Winnipeg by the time of the 1891 census. Sidney and Ada married… Read More »

Roberts, George Hugh

George Hugh Roberts was born on 18 August 1892 in Keewatin, Ontario, a small town just west of present day Kenora. His father Owen Ellis Roberts, born in 1858 in Bala, Merionethshire in Wales, immigrated to Canada in 1882, arriving in Quebec on 26 June on the Circassian. He settled in Winnipeg where he married… Read More »

Blake, Alfred

Sapper Alfred Blake enlisted in February 1916 and served for three years in England, France and Belgium. He survived the war and returned to Canada in April 1919. Alfred was the son of George Blake and Emma Sanham of Hellesdon, Norwich, Norfolk County, England. George and Emma were married in Norwich in 1869 and they… Read More »

McDonald, Archibald Joseph

According to his baptism record, Archibald (Archie) Jospeh McDonald was born on 9 September 1898 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Duncan Alexander McDonald was from Ontario while his mother Mary Elizabeth Kerr was from Scotland, the couple marrying on 21 October 1886 in East Selkirk, Manitoba. By the time of the… Read More »

Lunan, George Ogilvie

Although he gave his year of birth as 1888 on his attestation papers, George Ogilvie Lunan was born on 15 July 1884 in Tealing, Forfarshire in Scotland (confirmed by birth record). Tealing is about 10 kms north of the city of Dundee in what is now the county of Angus. George’s father Thomas Lunan was… Read More »

Sparks, William Thomas

Corporal William Thomas Sparks enlisted in December 1914 and served in England, France and Belgium. He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and he spent over a year recovering in hospitals and convalescent centres. William was the son of Thomas George Sparks (Sparkes) and Eliza Mackler of West Ham, London, England…. 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 »