Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthSeptember 28, 1893
Place of BirthKeewatin, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs Fannie Lalois, Sleeman Post Office, Ontario
Trade / CallingFarmer
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number2383462
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentSleeman Post Office, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 10, 1918
Age at Enlistment24
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Buried AtForest Lawn Cemetery, Rainy River, Ontario
PlotN-14S-4-14-S

Lalois, Frederick Joseph

According to his attestation papers, Frederick Joseph Lalois was born on 29 September 1893 in Keewatin, Ontario, a small town just west of Kenora. His father Louis Lalois was from Montmagny, Quebec, earlier spelling of the surname as Lislois. Louis had been farming in the Keewatin area by the 1881 census but a short time later found work in his profession, a mariner/sailor/pilot. His father had been a navigateur on the Saint Lawrence River back in Montmagny. Fred’s mother Frances (Fannie) Muggaberg was born in the RM of St Andrews in Manitoba, the daughter of a Norwegian father and Métis mother. Louis and Fannie married on 8 December 1886 in Rapid River, Rainy River although Fannie had been living with her family in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). Children born in Keewatin were Fanny (1888), John Henry (Jack) (1889), Elizabeth (1891), Fred, Louis (1896), and Alex William (1898). Although a death record was not found for daughter Fanny, by the 1891 census and subsequents ones she was not listed with the family. By the time of the 1901 census the family had relocated to Beaver Mills, the original name of what is now the town of Rainy River. Two more children were born to the family, Raymond (1902) and Mary Ethel (1904). Sadly father Louis died on 21 April 1907, with Fannie later entering a relationship with William Albert Trenchard. Two children were born to the couple, Bert (abt 1911) and Laurence (1914). The family farmed in the Worthington area near Rainy River although Fred was living with his uncle Julius Muggaberg and family in Crozier near Fort Frances at the time of the 1911 census.

With the onset of conscription in the latter part of the war, Fred and his brother Louis signed their recruitment papers with the 1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment on 10 January 1918 in Port Arthur, Ontario. Both gave their occupations as farmers and their mother Fannie Lalois, Sleeman PO, Ontario as next of kin. Although Fred had his medical examination in November of 1917 in Rainy River, in March of 1918 he was found medically unfit and transferred to N Company, 1st Depot Battalion. At 4 feet 11 inches, he was under height and he was also suffering from enlarged tonsils and adenoids as well as catarrhal otitis media, refusing an operation. Fred was discharged from service as medically unfit on 31 August 1918 in Port Arthur.

Fred returned to the family farm, found living with his mother and siblings John, Louis, William, Raymond, Mary, Bert and Laurence at the time of the 1921 census. It appears that Fred did not marry, with later Voters lists have him living in nearby Sleeman and working as a labourer or farmer. Last trace of Fred was a 1957 Voters list and although he is interred in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Rainy River, date of death unknown.

Fred’s mother Fannie died in 1934, and siblings Laurence in 1928, William in 1937, Mary Larson in 1942, John in 1960, Elizabeth Kearny in 1960, Louis in 1961, Raymond in 1982, and Bert in 1985. All are interred in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Rainy River.

By Judy Stockham


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