Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthOctober 12, 1891
Place of BirthKenora, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinChristina Tweedie (mother), Richmond Beach, Washington, USA
Trade / CallingMining recorder - B.C. government
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number4080270
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion, B.C. Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentVancouver, British Columbia
Address at EnlistmentFairview P.O. near Penticton, British Columbia
Date of EnlistmentMarch 16, 1918
Age at Enlistment26
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJune 22, 1965
Age at Death73

Tweedie, Roswell Dawson

Private Roswell Dawson Tweedie was born in either Norman or Rat Portage, Ontario on 12 October 1891. He had a younger brother Louis Herwald and two younger sisters, Hazel and Olive, all born in Norman or Rat Portage (now called Kenora). His father, Eusebius Dawson Tweedie, was from Carlton Place, Ontario and his mother, Christina Jasper, was born in London, England. Eusebius and his wife had married in Winnipeg in 1889 and settled in the Rat Portage area, where he worked as a mill engineer. Sadly, their daughter Olive died in 1904, at age 7, and she’s buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery. Sometime after that the family moved west to Vancouver and Eusebius passed away there in 1908, suffering from tuberculosis.

When the 1911 census was taken Roswell was 19, living in Revelstoke, British Columbia and working as a bookkeeper for the provincial government. His mother, brother Louis and sister Hazel were still in Vancouver. He was married in Revelstoke on 10 March 1913. His wife, Jennie Ogg, was 22 years old and born in Kamloops, British Columbia, the daughter of Andrew Ogg and Elizabeth Morris. Roswell and Jennie’s marriage lasted four years and it was dissolved in Vancouver on 16 June 1917.

The war entered its fourth year in August 1917 and conscription had just been introduced in Canada. Roswell was called up for service on 16 March 1918 in Vancouver. He was living near Penticton at the time and working as a mining recorder for the provincial government. Next of kin was his mother Christina in Richond Beach, Washington. Roswell said he had already served for 2-1/2 years with the Rocky Mountain Rangers, a militia unit, and for three years with the 18th Canadian Field Ambulance. He was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, B.C. Regiment and he served for four months. He was returned to the Records of the Registrar on 22 July 1918 and discharged on demobilization on 19 August in Vancouver. His brother Louis Tweedie enlisted that same month, August 1918, and served in Canada until November.

In 1919 Roswell moved to Oregon, where he worked as a railway clerk. He returned to British Columbia briefly in 1920 before moving to the U.S. permanently. He was married again around 1928 and by 1930 he was living in Oakland, Alameda County, California. He was employed as a telephone service salesman and his wife Lola was a high school teacher. Lola (nee Farrell) was born in Tennessee around 1893, the oldest of five daughters of Thomas Farrell and Agnes Glancy. Lola’s family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah when she was a child. Her father died there in 1924 and her mother in 1953.

Roswell and his wife were still living in Oakland in 1940 and he was working in a construction office. He passed away in Alameda County on 22 June 1965, at age 73, and Lola died in 1986. Roswell’s mother Christina passed away in King County, Washington in 1937, his brother Louis in Victoria, British Columbia in 1970 and his sister Hazel in Seattle, Washington in 1988.

By Becky Johnson


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