Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 21, 1889
Place of BirthNorman, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs Celina Dominique, mother, Sylvan Lake, Alberta
Trade / CallingBlacksmith
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number101289
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion66th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentRed Deer, Alberta
Date of EnlistmentSeptember 25, 1915
Age at Enlistment25
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJanuary 11, 1953
Age at Death63
Buried AtBeechmount Cemetery, Edmonton, Alberta

Dominique, Theophile

Theophile Dominique was born on 21 December 1889 in Norman, Ontario, a village a couple of kilometres west of Kenora in northwestern Ontario. Both of his parents, Theophile and Celina (née Pion) Dominique were from Quebec but had married on 10 August 1882 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Known for its cotton mills, the town had attracted a number of immigrants and on the marriage record Theophile’s occupation was given as mill hand. By 1886 and the birth of daughter Alvina, the family was living in Norman where Theophile worked as a lumber contractor. By the time of the 1901 census the family was living at Mikado Mine on Shoal Lake on Lake of the Woods, with Theophile’s occupation given as Captain, Mines and Waters. Other known children born to the family were Rosiana (Rose) (1888), Theophile, Eugene (1891), Eva (1896), and Louisa (1897).

By 1908 the family had moved to Red Deer, Alberta where Theophile Sr, called Captain, was running a lumber yard. According to Eugene’s service record as some point Theophile left he family and by 1916 Celina, Theophile Jr, Eugene, and Louisa were living on the outskirts of Sylvan Lake where Celina was operating a poultry farm and the two boys were working as blacksmiths. Alvina had married Frank Dollaire but sadly she died in 1918. Looking after some victims of influenza she too fell to the disease. Eva had had married Gabriel Lebihan in 1912.

With occupation given as blacksmith and his mother Celina in Sylvan Lake as next of kin, Theophile signed his attestation paper on 25 September 1915 in Red Deer. However by the following February, at Sarcee Camp, Theophile was found to be medically unfit for service and was discharged on the 4th. With the onset of conscription during the latter part of the war, Theophile’s brother Eugene went overseas with a draft of the 1st Depot Battalion Alberta Regiment in 1918, serving in France with the 50th Battalion. He and his Belgium war bride returned to Canada in July of 1919.

Theophile was next found on a border crossing record of October of 1920. Returning from a trip to France to visit relatives, with him was his wife Lucienne who had been born in Sylvan Lake, and their six month old daughter Adele who was born in Edmonton. The family made a second trip to France, returning in October of 1921 aboard the Scandinavian. Another son Arthur Paulin joined the family in 1925. The family was to make Edmonton their home, with Theophile working over the years at a lumber yard, as a labourer, and as a blacksmith. Two Henderson Directories, 1932 and 1943, list the Royal Alexander Hospital along with his home address so he may have been a patient at the hospital or worked there.

Predeceased by his wife Lucienne in 1950, Theophile died on 13 January 1953. At the time of his death he was survived by his daughter Adele Shanks of Namao, son Arthur, three grandchildren, and his sister Mrs Eva LeBihan of Leslieville, Alberta. Theophile and Lucienne are interred in the Beechmont Cemetery in Edmonton, Theophile’s grave marker provided by Last Post Fund, Veterans Affairs.

By Judy Stockham

Grave marker photograph by Doug Connor, ID 50658058, findagrave.com.


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