Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthOctober 22, 1893
Place of BirthSundsvall, Västernorrland
CountrySweden
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinCarl Carlson, father, Kenora Ontario
Trade / CallingBrakeman
ReligionLutheran
Service Details
Regimental Number4070324
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentBox 160, Kenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentNovember 8, 1917
Age at Enlistment24
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathApril 30, 1964
Age at Death70
Buried AtLake of The Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot22E-9-1

Carlson, Gustave Edwin

Gustave Edwin Antonius (Gus) Carlson was born on 22 October 1893 in Sundsvall, Västernorrland, Sweden. His father Carl Carlson was from NordingrГҐ in Västernorrland while his mother Sofia Amanda Westmark was from Pitea in Norbotton. The couple had married in Brunno in GudmundrГҐ in Västernorrland in 1888. Over the years Carl’s occupation in Sweden was given as arbetare (labourer). Their first child, Eleonara Anna, only lived for a couple of months and their second born child died at time of birth. By 1890 Carl and Amanda had moved to TimrГҐ in Västernorrland where they gave birth to son Carl Ragner (Roy) that August. The next year they moved to Sundsvall where two more children were added to the family, Einar Axel Reinhold (Angus) in 1891 and Gus. In April of 1897 the family left Sundsvall to go back to GudmundrГҐ, in time for son’s Ture’s birth that September. Another child, Judit Marie (Edith) was born in 1899.

Carl was the first to immigrate to Canada, leaving the parish in mid August of 1903. He was found on the passenger list of the Mount Temple that arrived in Montreal on the 6th of September, destination given as Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). Amanda and the children followed in September of 1904, arriving in Montreal aboard the Ionion on the 21st on their way to join Carl in Rat Portage. The family bought property in the nearby rural area of Jaffray Melick where they farmed. Carl also worked as a carpenter.

With occupation given as brakeman and his father Carl in Kenora as next of kin, Gus signed his recruitment papers in Winnipeg on 8 November 1917. He completed his medical examination at Minto St Barracks in Winnipeg on the 8th of December with a classification of A2. In May of 1918 Gus was admitted the St Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg with the diagnosis of pneumonia. He was discharged on the 12th of July and then given a week medical leave in October. Gus was discharged from service on the 12th of December in consequences of being a railroad employee and demobilization.

Gus returned to Kenora and his employment with the Canadian Pacific Railway, promoted to conductor in 1929 and retiring in 1958. On 12 January 1923, in Winnipeg, he married Alice Elenora Blom. Born in Kenora in 1904, Alice was the daughter of Swedish immigrants Carl Emil and Matilda Marie (née Johnson) Blom. Gus and Alice had three children, sons Melville Stuart, Earl Edmond, and Theodore Robert. Gus was a member of the Kenora Branch of the Canadian Legion, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and the Lutheran Church.

Predeceased by his father Carl in 1923, his mother Amanda in 1937, and his brother Ture in 1951, Gus died on 30 April 1964 at the Kenora General Hospital following a lengthy illness. He is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora. His wife Alice died in 1999 in Delta, British Columbia where son Ted and family were living.

Gus’ brothers Roy and Ture signed recruitment papers in Winnipeg in late 1917 with the 1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment, serving in Canada.

by Judy Stockham

Carlson-Gustave-Edwin-2 Carlson-Gustave-Edwin-3 Carlson-Gustave-Edwin-4

Photographs of Gus courtesy of scarlsongirl Carlson public family tree on ancestry.ca

Gus’ grave marker was installed in Lake of the Woods Cemetery in 2018 by the Last Post Fund.

 

 


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