Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMay 2, 1856
Place of BirthCairnie, Aberdeenshire
CountryScotland
Marital StatusWidower
Next of KinJohn Sim, son, Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingTeamster
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number198426
Service Record
Battalion94th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentDecember 6, 1915
Age at Enlistment59
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathOctober 27, 1927
Age at Death71
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot17E-17-4

Sim, Gordon

Gordon Sim was born on 2 May 1856 in Cairnie, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. His parents were William Sim and Catherine Henderson, both from the general area in Aberdeenshire. By the time of the 1851 census the family had a 24 acre farm in Redford, Cairnie. Children born to William and Catherine were John (1832), William (1834-1841), Peter (1836-1897), Robert (1838), Mary Ann (1840), George (1842-1878), Jane (1844-1931), James (1846-1867), William (1848), Charles (1852), Alexander (1854-1881), Gordon, and Andrew (1858-1879).

In 1878 Gordon and (Mary) Ann Lillie gave birth to son John in Forgue, Aberdeenshire where Ann was working as a servant. At the time Gordon was working as a servant in Redford, Cairnie. At some point Gordon and Ann immigrated to Canada, farming in the District of Monck in the township of Pelham near St Catharines in Ontario at the time of the 1891 census. By 1901 they had relocated to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario where Gordon found work as a teamster. In 1907 the couple travelled back to Scotland, presumably for their son John’s marriage to Barbara Cruden on 6 April in St Nicholas in Aberdeen. They returned to Canada on the Lake Erie, arriving in Quebec on the 24th of August. John, Barbara, and their daughter Lily Ann immigrated to Canada in 1909, arriving in Quebec on the Empress of Ireland on the 19th of August on their way to Kenora. After a lingering illness, Mary Ann died on 18 June 1912 in Kenora.

Gordon signed his attestation papers with the 94th Battalion on 6 December 1915 in Kenora. HIs occupation was given as teamster and his son John in Kenora as next of kin. Likely to appear younger he gave his date of birth as 1 May 1872 in Aberdeen. After training with the battalion as a Private, he was found medically unfit for further service at Valcartier in Quebec on 25 June 1916, three days before the battalion sailed for England.

Gordon died on 27 May 1927 in St Joseph’s Hospital in Kenora. He was predeceased by his father William in 1870 and mother Catherine in 1891, both in Cairnie as well as most of his siblings. He was survived by his son John and family in Jaffray Melick on the outskirts of Kenora. John later died in 1961 followed by his wife Barbara in 1966. Gordon and Mary Ann, John and Barbara as well as some of their children are interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

By Judy Stockham

 

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