Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 12, 1897
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinJoe Cusson, father, Somerset, Manitoba
Trade / CallingPipe Fitter
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number71195
ForceAir Force
BranchRoyal Flying Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentWinnipeg, Manitoba
Address at EnlistmentSomerset, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentApril 7, 1917
Age at Enlistment21
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 11, 1961
Age at Death64
Buried AtMount Calvary Cemetery, Portland Oregon, USA
PlotSection V

Cusson, Joseph Edmond

Joseph Edmond Henry Cusson was born on 12 April 1897 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Joseph Edmond Cusson was from L’Assomption, Quebec while his mother Marguerite Chamberland was from Nashua, New Hampshire. Joseph and Marguerite married on 24 October 1893 in St Boniface, Manitoba. They gave birth to two children, Joseph Alexandre (1894) and Alice (1895) before moving to Rat Portage where Joseph found work as a butcher. Children born in Rat Portage were Edmond, Philibert (1899), and Yvonne (1900). The family moved back to St Boniface for a couple of years as evidenced by the births of Berthe (1902), and Eva (1905) and then relocated to south-central Manitoba in the area of Somerset where Joseph was a hotel keeper. Children born in Somerset were Maria (1907), Adelard (1909), Leo (1912), Helene (1914), Jules (1915), and Albert (1916).

Living in Somerset at the time, Edmond attested with the Royal Flying Corps on 7 April 1917 in Winnipeg. His occupation was given as engine fitter and his father Joe in Somerset as next of kin. By the 10th of April he had been approved in Toronto, Ontario, rank of Air Mechanic 1st Class. However on 12 August 1917, in Toronto, Edmond was struck off strength as a deserter.

In October of 1919, Edmond crossed the border into the United States at Niagara Falls, Ontario/New York. By the time of the 1920 US census he was living in Los Angeles, California and working as a street car motorman. On 10 June 1925, in San Francisco, California, Edmond married Lucy Helen Enright. Born on 7 February 1906 in Penetanguishene, Simcoe, Ontario, Lucy was the daughter of John Enright, a hotel keeper, and Lucie Labatte. Her parents had married in 1900 in Lafontaine, Ontario. For the 1911 census the family was living in Tiny, Simcoe but later moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. A Washington passenger list of October 1923 indicated that Lucy was on her way to San Francisco, later returning to Vancouver before moving to San Francisco in 1924.

Edmond and Lucy were to make San Francisco their home, giving birth to two sons, Arthur Henry (1927-2013) and James Edmond (1934-2000). Various San Francisco censuses and directories gave his occupation as taxi cab chauffeur (1930) and machinist (1934-35). In 1937 the family moved to Portland, Oregon where Edmond was a salesman beverage vendor (1940) while according to his obituary, for many years he was associated with the Jack R Moore Company and then was the owner of Cusson Radio and Television until his retirement.

Edmond died on 11 May 1961 in Portland. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Lucy, his two sons of Portland, ten brothers and sisters, and five grandchildren. At some point Lucy later married Edward Conroy. She died on 24 December 1999 and is interred with Edmond in the Mount Calvary Cemetery in Portland.

By Judy Stockham

Family photograph as added to ancestry.ca by Theresa Henry.
Grave marker photograph by JMcL on findagrave.com.


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