Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 23, 1887
Place of BirthHatton on Fintray, Aberdeenshire
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinRichard McIntosh, father, Loys of Cossans, Forfarshire, Scotland
Trade / CallingTeamster
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number2140311
Battalion2nd Depot Battalion, British Columbia Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentVictoria, British Columbia
Address at EnlistmentDawson, Yukon Territory, Canada
Date of EnlistmentJuly 2, 1918
Age at Enlistment31
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathDecember 27, 1963
Age at Death76
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot21E-8-4

McIntosh, Alexander Arthur

Alexander Arthur McIntosh was born on 23 April 1887 in Hatton on Fintray, a village on the River Don in the parish of Fintray about twenty kilometres northwest of Aberdeen in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His Richard McIntosh was from Echt while his mother Isabella Alexander was from Rayne, both in Aberdeenshire. The couple married on 19 November 1886 in Fintray. Over the years Richard’s occupation was given as farm servant, crofter, farm overseer as they moved from place to place as evidenced by the censuses and locations of the births of the children. Children born to the couple were Alexander, Richard (1889, Skene, Aberdeenshire), Isabella Jane (1890, Skene, Aberdeenshire), Elizabeth Marjorie (1892, Marykirk, Kincardineshire), Peter (1894, Glenbervie, Kincardineshire), Angus Donald (1896, Fordoun, Kincardineshire), Joseph (1898, Rescobie, Kincardineshire), and George (1903, Bervie, Kincardineshire). By the time of the 1911 Scotland census, Alexander was boarding with Harry Barbour in Marykirk, Kincardineshire and working as a farm servant (horseman)

According to his later obituary, Alexander immigrated to Canada in 1913, first settling in Dawson in the Yukon. Drafted under the Military Service Act of 1917, he had his medical examination on 8 February 1918 in Dawson, medical category B2 (fit for base units of the medical service, garrison, or regimental outdoor duty). He was called up for service on 2 July 1918 at Victoria, British Columbia. Living in Dawson, his occupation was given as teamster and his father Richard back in Scotland as next of kin. First assigned to the 2nd Depot Battalion British Columbia Regiment, a short time later on 18 July he was transferred to the Canadian Railway Troops Reinforcement. However having previously fractured his tibia that caused a stiff ankle and lameness combined with hammer toe and varicocele, Alexander was discharged from service as medically unfit on 12 August 1918 at North Vancouver, BC, rank of Private. At the time of his discharge his proposed residence was given as the Hudson Hotel in Vancouver.

On 27 August 1929, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Alexander married Ella May (née Day) Paulson. Born on 1 March 1897 in Bracebridge, Ontario, Ella was the daughter of Frederick Day and Amelia May (Molly) Traviss. Her parents had married on 26 December 1894 in Newmarket, Ontario and moved to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) shortly after her birth. Ella had married Peter Paulson on 12 January 1916 in Kenora. Born in 1894 in Rat Portage, Peter was the son of Norwegian immigrant Edward Paulson (Polsen) and his wife Sophia Burkis. It appears that Ella and Peter gave birth to four children, Cecil Grant, Lloyd Leslie, Audrey May, and Richard, and at some point the marriage had failed. Sadly, while serving with Fort Garry Horse, Lance Corporal Lloyd Paulson was reported as killed in action on 11 June 1944. He is interred in the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in France.

Alexander and Ella farmed on the outskirts of Kenora in Jaffray Melick. Active in municipal life, Alexander was reeve of Jaffray and Melick from 1950 to 1953 and then served on council from 1953 to 1957. He also served several terms on the local school board. In later life Alexander worked for Dingwall Motors and Norton Motors.

Alexander died on 27 December 1963 at St Joseph’s Hospital in Kenora. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Ella, stepchildren Audrey (Godfrey) Neale, Cecil of Kenora and Robert of Vancouver as well as brothers Richard and Angus of Winnipeg and siblings back in Scotland. Ella later died on 29 May 1993 in Birchwood Terrace in Kenora. Alexander and Ella are interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

By Judy Stockham


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