Deseronto Archives

Jacob Bernhart joined up in Vancouver on this day in 1917. He was born in Tyendinaga on January 17th, 1877, the son of David Barnhardt and Susan (née Bey), who were both Mohawks. His younger brother Joseph had enlisted in June 1916. Jacob appears to have married Nellie May Myers (or possibly Nellie May Hayley) in Nelson, British Columbia on June 20th, 1914. When he enlisted, they were living at 132 Mile House on the Cariboo Road in BC.

Bernhart originally joined the Forestry Company (he was a woodsman and sawmill hand)  with the regimental number 2203445 and was transferred to the Railway Construction Company, according to his service record. He departed Halifax on August 11th, 1917 and arrived in England on the 28th. A month later he was admitted to hospital in Purfleet, Essex, suffering from pharyngitis. He was transferred to Barnwell Hospital in Cambridge, where he was treated over the next two and a half months. He was discharged on December 4th and arrived in France to join the 1st Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops on December 19th, 1917.