Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthAugust 25, 1875
Place of BirthInverness Township, Megantic County, Quebec
CountryCanada
Marital StatusMarried
Next of KinMrs. Anna Mackie (wife), Beausejour, Manitoba
Trade / CallingLocomotive fireman for CPR
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number721801
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion108th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentWinnipeg, Manitoba
Address at EnlistmentSutherland Hotel, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentFebruary 2, 1916
Age at Enlistment40
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathNovember 16, 1939
Age at Death64
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot9E-15-2

Mackie, Frederick Thomas

Private Frederick Thomas Mackie was born on 25 August 1875 in the Township of Inverness, Mégantic County, Quebec. His father, Dr. John R. Mackie, a physician, and his mother, Jane Elizabeth Borland, were both born in Quebec. Fred had at least three older siblings: Edith Anna, Arthur Edward and William Burton. Fred was baptized at the Methodist Church in Inverness on 23 March 1876 and his father died a week later, on 1 April. He was buried on 4 April at Boutelles Cemetery in Inverness.

Fred and his family were still in Inverness for the 1881 census but by 1891 they had moved to Hochelaga, Montreal. Fred became a glass blower and he was married in Montreal on 1 January 1896. His wife, Florence Reid, was also born in Quebec. They lived in Montreal and had four children over the next five years: Edith Beryl (November 1896), Arthur Edward (born 1898, died as a child), Edward Rosswell (1899) and Muriel (ca 1901). Florence passed away in 1904, at age 27, and she’s buried at Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal. Fred moved to the U.S. and married again around 1907. His second wife, Anna Sophia Severit, was born in 1883 in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois. Her father, Friedrich Severit, had emigrated from Germany and her mother, Augusta, was born in Illinois.

At the time of the 1910 census Fred and Anna were living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and they had two more children, Lillian (age 2) and Fred Jr. (age 1), both born in Illinois. Not long after that the family moved to Canada and settled in Beausejour, Manitoba. When the 1911 census was taken Fred was working there as a glass blower. A son, Thomas, was born in the U.S. in 1910 followed by Vernon Severit in 1912 in Beausejour. Within a few years Fred was working as a locomotive fireman for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Their son Edward Rosswell Mackie enlisted underage in October 1915 and he was sent to Great Britain and on to France. Fred enlisted with the 108th Battalion on 2 February 1916 in Winnipeg. He was 40 years old, a locomotive fireman and next of kin was his wife in Beausejour. He said he had served with a militia unit, the 6th Fusiliers, in Montreal. Fred was sent to Camp Hughes to train with the 108th Battalion. In March he suffered a ruptured hernia and he had an operation at the hospital in Selkirk, recuperating there until 14 April. He continued to be troubled with pain in the groin and he was discharged at Camp Hughes on 20 July 1916, due to being medically unfit for service.

After his service Fred and his wife made their home in Kenora, Ontario. Three more sons were born there, Earl, Douglas and Robert. Edward survived his time in France and returned to Canada in February 1918, due to an injury and to being underage. Fred had a long career as a fireman with the CPR and he was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. By the early 1930s he and his wife had moved to Minnitaki, a small town east of Kenora, where he took up farming. He retired from the CPR in December 1938. His sons Earl and Vernon served in the Second World War, Earl with the Canadian army and Vernon in the Royal Canadian Artillery.

Fred passed away at the Kenora General Hospital on 16 November 1939, at age 64. His funeral was held two days later and he’s buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery. He was predeceased by his oldest son and daughter and survived by his nine remaining children: Edward, Muriel (Mrs. Sid Lockwood), Lillian (Mrs. Robert McKane), Fred Jr., Thomas, Vernon, Earl, Douglas and Robert. Fred’s wife Anna died in Burnaby, British Columbia on 27 December 1978, at age 95.

By Becky Johnson


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