Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJune 15, 1890
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs Mary Wilson, 702 2nd Street, Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingTrain messenger
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number2138149
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion11th Battalion, CGR
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Garrison Regiment
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentNelson, British Columbia
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 19, 1918
Age at Enlistment26
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathFebruary 17, 1965
Age at Death74
Buried AtRiverview Abby Mausoleum, Portland, Oregon
PlotCrypt 12W4 Heather

Campbell, Angus Oscar

Angus Oscar Campbell was born on 15 June 1890 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario, date confirmed by his Ontario birth record. According to the 1891 census his father John Bow Campbell, a house painter, was from Scotland while his mother Mary Buckley was born in Ontario. Angus had three older siblings, all born in Winnipeg: Bernard (1883), Florance (1886), and Mary Lillian (1888). Another child born in Rat Portage was Margaret (Kathleen) (1893). By the time of the 1901 census Mary and the children were on their own, with boarder John Wilson living with the family in Rat Portage. Lillian married William Emmons in 1905, giving birth to son William John that year. The marriage did not survive and by the time of the 1911 census household members were John and Mary Wilson, Kathleen, and Mary’s grandson William John.

Angus was living in Nelson in British Columbia and working as a train messenger when he was called up for service in Victoria on 19 January 1918. He had had his medical examination the previous October in Vancouver. He gave his birth date as 16 June 1893 and his mother Mrs Mary Wilson of Kenora as next of kin. Taken on strength with the 2nd Depot Battalion British Columbia Regiment, Angus was appointed Acting Corporal on 19 June. In early October Angus, reverting to the rank of Private, was transferred to the 11th Battalion Canadian Garrison Regiment in Vancouver. With the reduction of military forces in Canada with the end of the war, he was discharged from service on 31 December 1918 in Vancouver. His character and conduct were described as very good.

Although living in Vancouver at the time, Angus married Evelyn Bessie Converse on 7 August 1924 in Seattle, Washington. Born on 15 May 1899 in McMinnville, Oregon, Bessie was the youngest child of John Tyler Converse and Ellen Bockes of McMinnville. Angus and Bessie were to make Canada their home with daughter Elizabeth Jean (Betty) born in 1925 in Penticton, British Columbia. By the mid 1930’s the family was living in Vancouver with Angus working as a salesman at a chemical company as found in the 1936 Vancouver directory. The 1945 Vancouver directory listed him as employed with the Western Bridge Company. Over the years Bessie and Betty Jean made numerous trips across the border to visit Bessie’s family.  In the late 1940’s Angus and Bessie moved to Portland, Oregon.

Angus died on 17 February 1965 in Portland. His daughter Betty Gattenby died in 1969 in Placer County in California followed by his wife Bessie on 2 December 2000 in Portland. At the time her death Bessie was survived by five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Following cremation, Angus and Bessie are interred in the Riverview Abbey Mausoleum in Portland.

By Judy Stockham

Campbell-Angus-Oscar-3


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