Deseronto Archives

Horace Alexander Thompson signed up at Camp Barriefield on this day in 1915. He had been born on April 14, 1896 in Deseronto, the son of Elizabeth (née McCormack) and David Thompson.

On enlisting, Thompson gave his occupation as student. He was five feet five and three-quarter inches tall, with a light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.  His regimental number was 510085. His service record shows that he went overseas on the SS Scandinavian on October 1st, 1915 and served with the Canadian Army Service Corps. He was admitted to hospital in May with a broken right wrist after an injury received when cranking the engine of a car. He arrived in France in September 1916. In March 1917 he returned to England to take up a commission as a lieutenant. He was treated for an infection in January 1918. In June 1918 he returned to France to join the 3rd Battalion. He was injured by a gas shell in September and sent to England to recover, where he remained until the war ended.

On November 12th, the day after the war ended, Thompson was arrested for creating a drunken disturbance in a hotel. His record shows that he was tried in January 1919 and dismissed from the forces.

Thompson returned to Canada as a civilian on the SS Cretic in March 1919. He is found living with his parents at the time of the 1921 census in Thomas Street, Deseronto, working as a mechanic. John Boyd, Thompson’s grandson, tells us that he worked for Bell Canada and worked in Chicago for a time and that he served in the Second World War. He retired to Green Point, Prince Edward County and later lived in Ottawa, where he died in around 1971.

On this day in 1915, Walter James Hawes enlisted in Napanee. He was born in Colchester, Essex, England on August 13th, 1874 and married Emma Darling in Paddington, London in 1899. In 1901 they were living in Willesden, Middlesex with their baby daughter, Rose and by 1911 the family (now with three sons, as well as Rose) were living in College Street, Deseronto, where Walter was working as a pipe fitter. The family had arrived in Quebec on the SS Canada in May 1907.

When he enlisted, Hawes was described as five feet two and a half inches tall, with a dark complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He joined the 77th Battalion with the regimental number 144679 but his service record shows that he was discharged as medically unfit for service on October 2nd. Walter died in Victoria, B.C., on April 8th, 1937.

Edward Arthur Bissell was born in Trenton, Ontario to Isabella (née Coulter) and William Bissell on July 2nd, 1882. He signed up in Camp Barriefield, Kingston on this day in 1915, under the assumed name of Edward Griswould, claiming to have been born in Deseronto in 1893 (although it appears he had always lived in Trenton). He gave his next of kin as Mrs James L. Wright of Rochester, New York – this was his older sister, Minnie, who was born in 1871.

When he enlisted, Bissell was described as five feet eight and a half inches tall, with a fair complexion, brown eyes and fair hair. He joined the 2nd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was given the regimental number 455218. His service record shows that he arrived in England on November 23rd, 1915. He sprained his right ankle and damaged his knee on June 13th, 1916 at Ypres and spent four months in hospital in England. In November 1917 he was admitted to hospital again, with myalgia. He returned to the 2nd Battalion in France in January 1918.

Bissell would not make it home.

From the week beginning August 10th, the Deseronto Archives will be open on Mondays, instead of Wednesdays, between 10am and 4pm.

On this day in 1915 Garnet Hopper tried to enlist in Toronto. He had been born in Deseronto on December 31st, 1893, the son of Mary (née Sexsmith) and John Hopper, a miller.

Garnet Hopper was a student, five feet seven inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. ‘Medically unfit’ has been written across the top of his attestation paper: his service record at Library and Archives Canada shows that he was discharged on August 23rd, 1915 for being deaf.

Hopper married Daisy Catherine Jenner in Toronto on May 17th, 1921 and was living with her in Stamford, Ontario, at the time of the 1921 census. His occupation then was civil engineer. He died on June 27th, 1952.

Archives volunteer Dyan Bonter has been working for three years on a project to transcribe obituary notices from The Quinte Scanner, the newspaper published in Deseronto between 1968 and 1982. This project is now complete, and all the obituaries are now available on this site.

Obituaries can be useful sources for making family history links, for identifying friend and family connections, or as a way of remembering former residents of the town. We hope that they will prove useful – and thank you, Dyan, for all your hard work!

On this day in 1915 Charles Arthur Stevens, a refrigeration engineer, signed up in Smiths Falls. He was born in Deseronto on September 25th, 1895, the son of Charles Stevens and Teresa (née Hunt). They were living in Toronto when he enlisted.

Stevens joined the 59th Battalion with the regimental number 454715. He was five feet five inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. His service record shows that he arrived in England on September 5th, 1915. He served for a year before being discharged as medically unfit. His file notes that he was physically underdeveloped, weighing only 110 pounds and “should never have been enlisted”.  He came back to Canada on the SS Sicilian on March 24th, 1916.

Stevens enlisted again in Toronto on January 9th, 1918 and was accepted, but did not go back to Europe. He was discharged as being unfit for overseas service on August 20th, 1918, due to general debility and deafness due to otosclerosis. He was back with his parents in Toronto in 1921, living at 1 Audley Avenue. He left Canada for Detroit, Michigan on August 2nd, 1925. Stevens died on March 17th, 1952.