Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthFebruary 23, 1872
Place of BirthColeraine, Londonderry
CountryIreland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs A (Susan) Ewing, sister, Glasgow, Scotland
Trade / CallingRivetter
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number2013668
Service Record Link to Service Record
BattalionDepot Battalion, CRT
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Railway Troops
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentTrenton, New Jersey, USA
Date of EnlistmentJuly 5, 1918
Age at Enlistment46
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathNovember 27, 1953
Age at Death82
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot38E-33-3

McHenry, Samuel Fulton

According to his attestation papers, Samuel Fulton McHenry was born on 23 February 1872 in Coleraine, Londonderry, Ireland. His parents were Hugh and Elizabeth (née Fulton) McHenry. Samuel’s father was a tailor and over the years Samuel and his siblings worked in the tailoring/textile industry. His known siblings were his older sister Susan, and younger brother and sisters Hugh, Elizabeth, and Esther (Hessie).

By the 1891 Scotland census the family had moved to Dumfries where father Hugh was working as a tailor and Samuel as a tweed power loom turner. In 1907 Samuel immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York on the 7th of July aboard the Caledonia. His occupation was given as power loom turner and his intended destination as Philadelphia. Samuel was next found on the 1910 Federal census  for Trenton, New Jersey where he was working as an ‘helper boilmaker’.

Although he was living in Trenton, Samuel signed his attestation papers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 5 July 1918. He gave his occupation as rivetter although elsewhere in his service record it was listed as boilermaker. He had twelve years previous military experience with the Queens Own Scottish Borderers. With gray hair and hazel eyes, Samuel was 46 years of age at the time of enlistment.

First listed as a Private with the Canadian Engineers Training Depot, Samuel embarked from Sydney, Nova Scotia aboard the Kildonan Castle on 27 August 1918 with the 126th Draft of the Canadian Railway Troops. Upon arrival in England he was taken on strength with the Canadian Railway Troops at Purfleet as a Sapper. However it was found that Samuel had arterio sclerosis although ‘he’s a well preserved man who hardly looks his age’. He was down graded to category B1 and by late November was back in Canada, arriving on the  Aquitania on the 29th. Samuel was discharged in Winnipeg on 10 January 1919 on demobilization. His intended address was on Logan Avenue in Winnipeg and occupation of boilermaker.

It appears that Samuel stayed in Winnipeg for a while and was a member of the Transcona Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. By 1934 he had moved to Kenora, Ontario where he became a member of the Kenora Branch of the Legion. He must have left the area as in 1947 he was reinstated for membership and was likely working at Laughing Water Lodge in Sioux Narrows. Samuel died on 27 November 1953. He is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora. Samuel’s gravemarker was replaced in 2015.

by Judy Stockham

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