Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | July 10, 1887 |
Place of Birth | St Marcel, Quebec |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Gideon LaRiviere, father, Norman, Ontario |
Trade / Calling | Woodsman |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 2383954 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Conscripted |
Address at Enlistment | Norman PO, Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | May 8, 1918 |
Age at Enlistment | 30 |
Theatre of Service | Canada |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | November 30, 1967 |
Age at Death | 80 |
Buried At | Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario |
Plot | RC E - 27 - 12 |
Gedeon Joseph LaRiviere was born on 10 July 1887 in Saint Marcel, L’Islet, Quebec. His parents were Gedeon and Marie Louise (née Messier) LaRiviere who had married in 1884 in Saint Marcel where their families farmed. Three children were born to the couple in Quebec, Joseph Antoine (1885-1885), Marie Louise (1886-1969), and Joseph. By the time of brother Alexandre’s birth in 1889, the family had moved to the francophone area of Letellier/Saint Joseph in the RM of Montcalm in southern Manitoba where they farmed. Today the area is host to the Saint Joseph windmill farm. Children born in Manitoba were Alexandre (1889-1960), Joseph Alfred (1891-1892), Marie Anne (1892-1979), Rose Delima Philomene (1894-1985), and Elsie Anna (1895-1895). By the 1901 Canada census the family had relocated to the small community of Norman in northwester Ontario where Gedeon found work in a local sawmill. Norman later became part of Kenora.
With occupation given as woodsman, and his father Gedeon as next of kin, Joseph signed his recruitment papers in Port Arthur, Ontario on 8 May 1918 with the 1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment. His birth year was recorded as 1888 although a Quebec baptism record confirms 1887 as the correct year. He had passed a medical examination in Kenora the previous October, his attestation papers noted irregularities with his foot. That August, in Port Arthur, Joseph was transferred to the 10th Battalion, Canadian Garrison Regiment. He was discharged from service on 27 December 1918 in Winnipeg.
Little is known about Joseph’s life after the war although a membership application card for the Kenora Branch of the Canadian Legion was found for him. The next of kin on the card was given as his sister Mrs W Young when in fact she was actually his niece.
Predeceased by his mother Marie Louise in 1918 and his father Gedeon in 1934, as well as some of his siblings, Joseph died on 30 November 1967. He shares a grave marker with his father in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.
by Judy Stockham