Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJune 14, 1893
Place of BirthTenmile House, Queens County, Prince Edward Island
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinThomas Smith, father, Tenmile House, Lot 35, Prince Edward Island
Trade / CallingLabourer
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number2382311
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentKenora PO, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentApril 2, 1918
Age at Enlistment24
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJune 17, 1965
Age at Death72
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
PlotC-33-7

Smith, Frederick Thomas

Frederick Thomas (Fred) Smith was born on 14 June 1893 in the area of Tenmile House, Queens County, Prince Edward Island. He was baptized on the 21st in St Bonaventure Roman Catholic Church in nearby Tracadie Cross. His parents Thomas Smith, a blacksmith, and Eliza(beth) McQuaid were born in Prince Edward Island, Thomas the son of Irish immigrants and Eliza’s father also being from Ireland while her mother was from PEI. The couple had married in St Bonaventure Church on 21 February 1881. Known children born to the family were Annie Josephine (1882), Edward (1883), Luceda Cecilia (1885), Frederick Leo (1887), Eliza Jane (1888), Ellen Teresa (1891), Fred, Johanna Agnes (1896), and Ambrose James (1899). However by the time of the 1901 census Frederick Leo and Ambrose were no longer with the family, likely having passed away in infancy or early childhood. Sadly mother Eliza died in 1908, with family members listed in the 1911 census being Thomas, Edward, Ellen, Fred, and Johanna. In 1905 Annie had married school teacher and widower Bernard McCabe. At the time of the 1911 census they were living in Tenmile House with Bernard’s children from his first marriage as well as two of their own.

At some point Fred moved to northwestern Ontario, living in Kenora when he was drafted under the Military Service Act of 1917. He signed his recruitment papers on 2 April 1918 in Winnipeg, with occupation given as labourer, address as Kenora PO, and his father Thomas back in PEI as next of kin. During training Fred was admitted to the Winnipeg General Hospital with quinsy (tonsillitis) from 4-15 May. As a Private with the 65th Draft of the 1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment, he arrived in England on 22 July 1918. Taken on strength with the 18th Reserve Battalion, Fred was to serve in England for the rest of the war. He returned to Canada aboard the Aquitania, embarking from Liverpool on 14 June 1919. Fred was discharged from service on demobilization on 27 June in Halifax. His proposed residence at time of discharge was given as Winnipeg.

Not a lot is known about Fred’s life after the war. According to his obituary he was employed as a stableman in the Kenora district for twenty years, retiring in 1956. In November of 1957 he became a resident of the Pinecrest Home for the Aged in Kenora. Fred passed away at Pinecrest on 17 June 1965. At the time of his death he was survived by his sister Annie McCabe of Tracadie, PEI. Fred is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora. His grave marker was provided by Last Post Fund in 2018.

By Judy Stockham

Smith-Fred-Thomas-2


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