Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMay 2, 1892
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMabel Kearney, sister, 201 North 56th Street, Duluth, Minnesota
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number2851017
Battalion1st Battalion B Company 358th Infantry Regiment
ForceUS Expeditionary Forces
Branch90th Division US Infantry
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJuly 9, 1966
Age at Death74
Buried AtCalvary Cemetery, Duluth, Minnesota, USA
PlotSection VS Block 6 Lot 8

Kearney, Arthur Henry

Arthur Henry Kearney was born on 2 May 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. It appears that his father Patrick Kearney was from the area in Quebec just across the river from Ottawa while his mother Mary Ellen Brennan was likely from Ottawa. The couple married on 8 July 1891 in Rat Portage. At the time of the 1891 census Mary Ellen had been living and working as a domestic in a hotel owned by Paul and Nellie Proulx, Nellie being Patrick’s sister. A short time after Arthur’s birth the family moved to the United States, with daughters Mary born in 1895 in Wisconsin and Mabel in 1898 in Minnesota, likely in Duluth. Sadly, Mary Ellen died the next year in Duluth. The 1900 US census found Patrick and Arthur living with Bernard and Ellen Coffield, with Patrick working as a day labourer. Mary and Mabel returned to Rat Portage to live with their aunt Nellie as evidenced by the 1901 Canada census. By the time of the 1905 Minnesota census Arthur, Mary and Mabel were living with the Coffields. In 1907 Patrick married Katherine Kelly who had been born about 1871 in the Huntley, Ontario area. Patrick and Katherine gave birth to two sons, John Patrick in 1909 and Andrew in 1910. Although Arthur, Mary, and Mabel were listed as living with his father and his new family at the time of the 1910 census, they were also listed as with the Coffields and a Coffield family history indicated that the Coffields fostered children over the years.

Arthur was working as a steel worker for the Minnesota Steel Company in Duluth when he signed his WW1 Draft Registration card on 5 June 1917. He was described as single, tall and slender, with blue eyes and light hair. After training at Camp Travis in Texas, with the rank of Private with Company B, 358th Infantry, 90th Division, Arthur embarked from New York aboard the Canada on 20 June 1918. His sister Mabel in Duluth was noted as next of kin on the passenger list. Within Company B, Arthur was assigned to the 1st Battalion.

The 358th Infantry was awarded the following Campaign Participation Credit:
Villers-en-Haye Sector, France, 24 August – 11 September 1918
St Mihiel Offensive, France, 12 – 16 September 1918
Luvenelle Sector, France, 17 September – 10 October 1918
Meuse-Argonne Offensive, France 22 October – 11 November 1918

In addition, the 1st Battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for Ardennes.

At some point Arthur sustained a gunshot wound to the knee. With the Sick and Wounded Convalescent Detachment #58 (Bordeaux), he embarked from Bordeaux on 3 February 1919 aboard the Henderson. Upon arrival in Hoboken, New Jersey Arthur was transferred to Hospital #3 upon debarking. Further details of Arthur’s recovery and discharge are unknown.

By the time of the 1920 census Arthur was living in Detroit and working as a mechanic at an auto factory while the 1930 census listed him as a oil salesman back in Duluth. However a Minneapolis newspaper report of July 1930 spoke of an explosion in a gas station in Duluth where Arthur was working as an attendant. With serious burns and body injuries, he was hospitalized. For the 1940 census Arthur was listed as a patient in the Veterans Administration Mental Hospital in St Cloud, Minnesota. Living in Detroit and working for the ‘Chicago Milwaukee St Paul Railway Company’, Arthur signed his WW2 Registration card on 27 April 1942. With address given as Madison Street in Chicago, Arthur signed a Social Security-Carrier Employee Registration card for the Chicago and Northwester Railway Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in January of 1943, occupation given as snow shoveler.

Arthur died on 9 July 1966. At the time of his death he was survived by his sister Mabel and stepbrother John Patrick. He was predeceased by his mother, his stepbrother Andrew in 1920, stepmother Katherine in 1942, father Patrick in 1943, and his sister Mary (m Carl Hock and Edwin Johnson) in 1955. John Patrick, having served as a 1st Lieutenant with the US Army in WW2, died in 1981 in Santa Clara, California. Arthur’s sister Mabel died in 1992. Arthur is interred in a military plot in the Calvary Cemetery in Duluth. Also interred in the cemetery are his mother and father, stepmother, stepbrother Andrew, and sister Mabel.

 By Judy Stockham
Kearney-Arthur-Henry-2 Kearney-Arthur-Henry-3 Kearney-Arthur-Henry-4 Kearney-Arthur-Henry-4b Kearney-Arthur-Henry-5 Kearney-Arthur-Henry-6

Grave marker photograph provided by J Huntley, findagrave.com.

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