Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthSeptember 30, 1895
Place of BirthKeewatin, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinJoseph Madore, father, St Pierre Jolys, Manitoba
Trade / CallingClerk
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number524498
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion43rd Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentSt Pierre Jolys, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentMay 9, 1917
Age at Enlistment21
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 2, 1949
Age at Death53
Buried AtCalvary Cemetery, Seattle, Washington

Madore, Joseph Alfred

According to his attestation papers and other records and documents, Joseph Alfred Madore was born on 30 September 1895 in Keewatin, Ontario while his Ontario birth record gives the date as 1 October, likely an error. Both of his parents, Joseph Polydore Madore and Adelina Joannette were from Quebec, marrying on 13 February 1893 in nearby Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Although his father had been working as a millhand in Rat Portage, at the time of Joseph Alfred’s birth he was working as a merchant in Keewatin. A short time later the family relocated to St Pierre Jolys in the RM of de Salaberry, Provencher, Manitoba, a community about 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg. Over the years Joseph Sr’s occupation was listed as merchant of a general store. Children born in Manitoba were Severe (1897), Joseph (1901-1901), Marie Marguerite (1904), and Irene (1906). Sadly Joseph’s mother Adelina died in 1913, with his father Joseph marrying Oliva Gauthier the following December of 1914.

With occupation given as clerk and his father Joseph in St Pierre Jolys as next of kin, Joseph signed his attestation papers in Winnipeg on 9 May 1917 with the A Section No1 Field Ambulance Depot. He arrived in England aboard the Justicia on 4 July 1917, taken on strength with the Canadian Army Medical Corps Depot at Westenhanger. In mid October Joseph was transferred to the 11th Reserve Battalion at Shorncliffe, transferring to the 16th Battalion in March of 1918 and arriving in France on 7 April. Just days later he was struck off strength to the 43rd Battalion, joining the unit in the field on the 13th. The 43rd Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) was authorized on 7 November 1914 and had embarked for Britain on 1 June 1915. It disembarked in France on 22 February 1916, where it fought as part of the 9th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war. Joseph returned to England in February of 1919 and embarked for Canada aboard the Baltic on 12 March. He was discharged from service on 24 March in Winnipeg.

With the onset of conscription in the latter part of the war, Joseph’s brother Severe signed his recruitment papers in Winnipeg in May of 1918 with the 1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment. That June he was struck off strength on return to Registrar’s records.

Joseph returned to St Pierre Jolys, found living with his father and his wife Josephate, his siblings Severe and Irene, and stepsister Annette Pambrun for the 1921 census. He was working as a salesman in his father’s general store. Later that year or early in 1922 Joseph moved to Seattle, Washington, marrying on 7 April 1924. His bride Evelyn Hope Hawkins was born on 8 March 1903 in Washington. Her father James Knox Hawkins was from Mississippi while her mother Ida Cyphert was from California, the couple marrying in 1899 in Marysville, Washington.

Joseph and Evelyn were to make Seattle their home, giving birth to two children, Elaine and Paul. According to the 1930 census Joseph was working as a locksmith while Evelyn was working as a saleslady. However he was also found listed as patient at the Firwood Sanatarium and City Isolation Hospital, a treatment facility for tuberculosis. The 1940 census gave Joseph’s occupation as hardware salesman but his 1942 WW2 Draft Registration card indicated that he was an invalid, unable to work.

Joseph Alfred Madore died on 2 May 1949 in the Firwood Sanatarium, suffering a pulmonary embolism. Due to pulmonary tuberculosis he had recently undergone a lobectomy on April 24th. His Veteran Death card gave his wife Evelyn in Seattle as next of kin. Evelyn did not remarry and died on 29 September 1979 in Seattle. Joseph and Evelyn are interred in the Calvary Cemetery in Seattle.

By Judy Stockham

Madore gravemarker photo: courtesy of Paul Everitt, findagrave.com


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