Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | June 19, 1889 |
Place of Birth | Chicago, Illinois |
Country | U.S.A. |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Mr. Charlie Gallow (father), Crivitz, Wisconsin, U.S.A. |
Trade / Calling | Railroad |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 2381895 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Address at Enlistment | Kenora, Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | April 8, 1918 |
Age at Enlistment | 28 |
Theatre of Service | Canada |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | 19600402 |
Age at Death | 71 |
Buried At | St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery, Thunder Bay, Ontario |
Plot | Block 41, Row 1, Lot 10 |
Private Joseph Alexander Gallow enlisted in Winnipeg in April 1918 and served in Manitoba for about two months. He was discharged for medical reasons in June 1918.
According to his service file Joseph was born on 19 June 1889 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. His mother Katherine (née Templin or Templein) was born in Poland in 1862 and immigrated to the U.S. when she was about 19 years old. She married John Marchewska in Chicago in February 1882 and they had four children, all boys. Joseph was the youngest and his father died in 1891 when he was two years old.
Joseph’s step-father Kasimir (Kasmir/Casmir/Charles) Galow (Gallow/Gallo) immigrated to the U.S. in March 1892 on the SS Wieland, sailing from Hamburg to New York. He was 22 years old, a farmer coming from Prussia with his destination listed as Chicago. He married Katherine in Chicago in April 1894 and they had at least six children. At the time of the 1900 census Joseph was 10 years old and living in Chicago with his parents, four brothers and a sister. By the spring of 1903 the family had moved to Stephenson Township, Marinette County, Wisconsin where Kasimir was farming. The three youngest children were born there.
Joseph left Wisconsin and moved to Canada when he was in his early 20s. By the time he enlisted he was living in the town of Kenora in northwestern Ontario and working as a brakeman for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He signed up in Winnipeg on 8 April 1918, joining the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment. He was 28 years old, 5’10” tall, 135 lb with blue eyes and brown hair. He was found fit for service but with a medical classification of C1 (suitable for non-combatant work in Canada). He served in Manitoba for two and a half months, getting discharged on 25 June as medically unfit due to having a hernia. His younger brother Frank Henry Galow enlisted in the U.S. army in October 1917 and served as a private with the 341st Infantry Regiment.
Joseph may have returned to Kenora after his discharge but by the following year he was living in Fort William, Ontario. He was married at the First Presbyterian Church in Fort William on 8 November 1919. His wife, Violet Harper, was born in St. Clements, Manitoba in 1888, the daughter of Joseph Harper and Jane Sinclair. By the time she was two her family had moved to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) and she grew up there. When she married Joseph her residence was listed as Kenora and her occupation was cook.
Joseph and his wife made their home in Fort William where he had a long career with the railway. They had four children: Robert, John, Patrick and Lillian. Sadly Robert drowned in 1932, at age nine. Joseph passed away on 2 April 1960, at age 70, and Violet died in March 1966. They are both buried in St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery in Fort William, which is now part of the city of Thunder Bay.
By Becky Johnson
Photo at the top: St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery