Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJanuary 17, 1888
Place of BirthBerwick, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs. Jane McMonagle (mother), Box 35, Finch, Ontario
Trade / CallingLumber Scaler
ReligionMethodist
Service Details
Regimental Number3323453
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion10th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentOttawa, Ontario
Address at EnlistmentFinch, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJune 6, 1918
Age at Enlistment30
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMarch 1, 1966
Age at Death78
Buried AtDryden Cemetery, Dryden, Ontario
PlotB-101.05

McMonagle, Eugene

Private Eugene McMonagle was the son of George McMonagle and Ellen Jane McRae of Finch Township, Cornwall and Stormont County, Ontario. He was born on 17 January 1888 in Berwick, Finch Township, his birth registered as Uejane Ezekiel McMonagle. His father was a farmer at the time. Eugene’s parents were married in Avonmore, Stormont County in November 1882 and he had one older sister, Henrietta. George died in 1891 and three years later Ellen married his brother, Alexander McMonagle, a widower with four children. When the 1901 census was taken Alex, Ellen and the six children were living in Finch Township where they were farming.

In August 1917 the war entered its fourth year and conscription started in Canada that fall. Eugene registered as required and had his medical on 10 October 1917 in Kenora, Ontario. He was called up on 6 June 1918 in Ottawa. His occupation was lumber scaler and next of kin was his mother in Finch. Eugene was assigned to the 2nd Depot Battalion, Eastern Ontario Regiment, and he served with them in Canada for five months. He was discharged on demobilization on 22 November 1918 in Ottawa.

Eugene returned to the Kenora area after the war. When the 1921 census was taken he was living in the neighbouring town of Keewatin, lodging with the Joseph Harkins family and working in a local sawmill. His mother, his uncle Alex and other family members had moved to Dryden. Alex died there in June 1920 in a train accident. By 1934 Eugene was married and also living in Dryden, where he had a long career with the pulp and paper mill. He became a member of the local branch of the Canadian Legion. Two of his cousins from Dryden, Frank and James McMonagle, died in the Second World War. Frank was lost at sea in February 1941, while serving with the Merchant Navy on HMS Manistee. His brother James served with the 48th Highlanders of Canada and died of wounds in Italy in 1943.

Eugene passed away in the Dryden Hospital on 1 March 1966, at age 78, and his funeral was held three days later at the Baptist Church. His wife Katherine died in 1970. They are buried in Dryden Cemetery along with Eugene’s mother, his sister Henrietta (Mrs. Russell Gilbert Wigle) (1884-1959) and other family members.

By Becky Johnson

Grave marker photo courtesy of Lynda Piilo.


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