Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthNovember 21, 1887
Place of BirthKenora, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinJohn Law Dalziel (father), Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingBookkeeper
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number2383804
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentFort Frances, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentApril 17, 1918
Age at Enlistment30
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJune 10, 1958
Age at Death70
Buried AtRiverside Memorial Park Cemetery, Regina, Saskatchewan
Plot37C-06-C

Dalziel, John Thomas

Acting Sergeant John Thomas Dalziel was the only son of John Law Dalziel and Mary Agnes Hunter of Kenora, Ontario. John Law was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland and immigrated to Canada as a young man. He lived briefly in Winnipeg, Manitoba before settling in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). Mary was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and came to Canada in October 1886. John Law and Mary were married in Winnipeg that same month. They made their home in Rat Portage where John worked as a clerk, carpenter and dairyman. They had four children, all born in Rat Portage: John Thomas (21 November 1887), Mary Helen (1890), Charlotte Law (1892) and Martha (1895).

When the 1911 census was taken John Thomas was 23 years old, living at home and working as a bookkeeper. The war started three years later and conscription was introduced in Canada in 1917. John was living in Fort Frances by then and he had his medical there on 17 October 1917. He was called up on 17 April 1918 in Port Arthur and assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment. In July he was appointed Acting Sergeant. The Armistice ended hostilities in November and John was discharged in Port Arthur on 9 December 1918, due to being medically unfit for overseas service. His final medical exam noted that for several years he had suffered acute attacks of rheumatism in his legs and hips.

All three of John’s sisters married war veterans. Martha married Cecil Leroi Parrott in 1918, Charlotte married Enoch Marshall Sales in 1920 and Mary married John Edward Shipway in 1926. John returned to Fort Frances after the war and when the 1921 census was taken he was working as a bookkeeper and lodging at the Emperor Hotel. He was still in Fort Frances when his father died in January 1934 and he may have been married by then. His wife, Alice Elizabeth (née Brisby), was born in Minnesota and lived in the Fort Frances – International Falls area. She was divorced and she had a son, Thomas Lacy, who was born around 1910. By the time his mother died, in July 1936, John was living in The Pas, Manitoba and he and his wife later made their home in Regina, Saskatchewan. They had one son, John R. Dalziel.

John passed away in Regina on 10 June 1958, at age 70, and Alice died in July 1970. They are both buried at Riverside Memorial Park Cemetery in Regina.

By Becky Johnson


Grave marker photograph by ShanLSto ID #51222639, findagrave.com.


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