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These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.
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Private William Armour was the youngest of four brothers who enlisted for service in the First World War. He was 17 years old when he signed up in the fall of 1917 and he served in France and Belgium in the last months of the war. William was born on 25 August 1900 in Dalrymple,… Read More »
Captain Herbert Chambers Stacey enlisted with the first Canadian contingent in September 1914. The following year he was commissioned into the British army and he served in France with the Welsh Regiment. Herbert was born on 2 November 1889 in Appin, Ekfrid Township, Middlesex County, Ontario. His father, Reverend Frank Bainard Stacey, was born near… Read More »
On 03 August 1888 Wilfred Hales was the 2nd born of 8 children in Peterborough, England to John Hales and Betsy Anne Peacock. ‘Billy’, as he was known to friends, immigrated to Canada in 1911. He joined the group of young men in Kenora that were from his home town in England. They became… Read More »
Frederick George Simpson was born on 01 December 1898 in Swidon, Wiltshire, England. His parents were Fred Simpson and Eliza Henams. In 1904 the family immigrated to Canada and settled in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. Another son, Harry, was born in 1905. By the 1911 Canadian census the family was living just outside Kenora… Read More »
Background: Wilbur Godkin was not born in Kenora, never grew up in Kenora, and never died in Kenora; however, he had an important role in the short time that he lived there, before World War II. Wilbur, commonly known as Webb, became President of the Royal Canadian Legion, Kenora Branch #12, for 1941-42. It… Read More »
Lance Corporal Peter Ramier enlisted in February 1916 and served for three years in Canada, Great Britain, France and Belgium. He was wounded three times but he survived the war and returned home in March 1919. Peter was the son of John Thomas Ramier and Charlotte Chatterton of Port Daniel, Bonaventure County, Quebec. John and… Read More »
James Huston Ross Woods was born on 14 January 1893 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Arthur Woods, son of Irish immigrant Russel Woods and Quebec born Eliza Huston, grew up on a farm in the Kildare/Joliette, Quebec region. His mother Harriet Ross, daughter of William and Margaret (née Caswell) Ross was… Read More »
The first born child of Donald and Christina McKinnon, Daniel Keith McKinnon was born on 18 March 1898 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. Both of his parents were born in Ontario and over the years his father worked as a contractor and/or carpenter. Daniel had two brothers, Patrick Robertson and James… Read More »
Fred Waites was born on 11 December 1897 in Chorley, Lancashire in England. His father Samuel Waites was from Chorley while his mother Martha Booth was from nearby Preston. The couple married during the second quarter of 1889 in the registration district of Chorley. Children born to the family were Jane Ellen (1889), Florence (1891),… Read More »
Sapper Claude Harry Richardson was married and the father of a young son when he signed up with a railway unit in February 1917. He served in France and Belgium for a year and returned to Canada in December 1918. Claude was the only son of William Henry Richardson and Sarah Ann (Sadie) Law. William… Read More »
