Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJuly 3, 1883
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinCharley Montalbetti, father, Gallarate.Per.Milano.Italy
Trade / CallingRoad Master
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number2140162
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion1st Reserve Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentBox 261 Corbin, British Columbia
Date of EnlistmentOctober 23, 1917
Age at Enlistment35
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of Death1972
Buried AtBlairmore (Saint Anne's) Roman Catholic Cemetery, Blairmore, Alberta

Montalbetti, William Floyd

According to an Ontario delayed birth registration of 1952, William Floyd Montalbetti was born on 3 July 1883 in Kenora (Rat Portage at the time), Ontario. According to the record, his parents, both born in Italy, were Carlo (Charles) Montalbetti and Maria Malnati, the couple giving birth to twelve children with five still living at the time of the record. The 1891 census found the family living in the subdistrict of Savanne and Ignace, Barclay and Vermillion in Algoma, near Rat Portage, where Charles was working as a railroad section foreman. Children listed on the census were William and younger siblings Peter, Isadore, and Adolf. William eventually moved to Alberta, living in Frank at the time of the big rockslide in 1903 that buried half of the town. The 1906 census found him living in nearby Blairmore with Joseph and Rosa Montalbetti and family, listed as Joseph’s brother.

With the onset of conscription during the latter part of the war, William had his medical examination on 23 October 1917 in Fernie, British Columbia. He had been living in nearby Corbin, working as a railway road master. His date and place of birth was given as 23 July 1883 in Rat Portage and his next of kin as his father Charley Montalbetti in Gallarate.Per.Milano.Italy.

Called up on 24 June 1918 in Victoria, William arrived in England aboard the Atreus as a Private with the 82nd Draft of the 2nd Depot Battalion BC Regiment. A few days later he was taken on strength with the 1st Reserve Battalion. With the end of the war William returned to Canada and was discharged from service on 14 July 1919 in Regina.

William returned to Corbin, found living there at the time of the 1921 census. His occupation was given as railway foreman. Lodging at his home were seven Italian immigrants that also worked on the railway section as well as his brother Isadore. William eventually retired and returned to Blairmore, Alberta. He died in 1972 and is interred in the Blairmore (Saint Anne’s) Catholic Cemetery in Blairmore.

By Judy Stockham

gravemarker photo: courtesy of Alison Glass


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