Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthSeptember 20, 1897
Place of BirthBass River, Kent County, New Brunswick
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs JW Fahey, mother, Upper Main River, Kent County, New Brunswick
Trade / CallingFarmer
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number3258906
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion, New Brunswick Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentSaint John, New Brunswick
Address at EnlistmentUpper Main River, Kent County, New Brunswick
Date of EnlistmentMay 17, 1918
Age at Enlistment20
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Death Details
Date of DeathApril 1969
Age at Death71

Fahey, John Ernest

John Ernest Fahey was born on 20 September 1897 in the Bass River area of Weldford, Kent in New Brunswick where his family farmed. His parents, both from New Brunswick, were John Fahey and Estella Johnston. Children born to the couple were Jane (1886), Gordon (1888-1888), Edward William (1889), Mary Winnifred (1891), Lillian Emeline (1894), Catherine Ann (1896), John, Estella Sarah (1899), Viola Edna (1902), Lucinda (Linda) (1904), and Loretta Blanche (1907).

With the onset of conscription in the latter part of the war, drafted under the Military Service Act of 1917 John was called up for service on 17 May 1918 at Saint John, New Brunswick. His place of birth and present address was given as Upper Main River, Kent County in New Brunswick, occupation as farmer, and his mother in New Brunswick as next of kin. Assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, New Brunswick Regiment, John served in Canada until discharged on demobilization on 22 January 1919 in Saint John, rank of Private.

Farming in the Oakville area of Manitoba, John’s brother Edward was called up for service in Winnipeg in June of 1918. He served with with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in England, returning to Canada in August of 1919.

By the time of the 1920 US census, John was living in the Piscataquis area in Maine where he was working at a lumber camp. By the next year he and his brother Edward were living in Pellatt just outside of Kenora in northwestern Ontario, the brothers working as labourers. According to his later US naturalization papers of January 1928, John crossed into the United States at Maine in October of 1923. He may have returned to Canada as a later border crossing record was found for December of 1927. At the time of naturalization he was working as a construction worker in Boston, Massachusetts. For the 1930 US census John was living in River Rouge, Wayne, Michigan where he was working a a labourer in a lumber mill. Still living in River Rouge, when he signed his WW2 Draft registration card he was working for the Frank J Wright Construction Company in Detroit.

On 11 April 1945, in Henry, Ohio, John married widow Eleanor Lillian McMillan. At the time of the marriage John was living in Detroit, Michigan and working in a factory while Eleanor was living in Ecorse, Michigan and working as a domestic. Born on 30 September 1898 in Bay City, Michigan, Eleanor was the daughter of Clement Cloutier, a millwright, and Justine Sabourin, both Canadians. Eleanor had married Frederick Duncan McMillan in 1919 in Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, the couple giving birth to at least five children. Following Frederick’s death she had married Charles Hando in 1940 in Wood, Ohio. John and Eleanor were to live in the River Rouge/Escorse area of Michigan on the outskirts of Detroit where John worked for a number of years for the US Gypsum Company.

John died in April of 1969 in River Rouge, his final resting place unknown. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Eleanor, and siblings Mary McGillivray, Estella (George) McGillivray, Viola (Robert) McPherson, Linda (Hersey) Patterson, and Loretta. He was predeceased by his mother Estella in 1913 and father John in 1926 who along with his infant brother Gordon are interred in the Saint Bartholomew Cemetery in Bass River, New Brunswick. He was also predeceased by sibling Jane (James) McDermott in 1937 in Rexton, New Brunswick, Lillian (Thomas) Roach in 1947 in Weldford, New Brunswick, and Catherine in 1922 in Main River, New Brunswick. His sisters Mary later died in 1975 in Massachusetts, Linda in 1976 in New Brunswick, Estella in 1983 in Massachusetts, Loretta in 1988 in Massachusetts, and Viola in 1989 in New Brunswick. Further trace of John’s brother Edward was not found after the 1921 census. John’s wife Eleanor later died on 7 January 1971 in Lincoln Park, Wayne, Michigan.

By Judy Stockham