Deseronto Archives

On this day in 1918 Asa Steed, a blacksmith, was conscripted in Hamilton. He was born in Deseronto on December 15th, 1896, the son of Asa Steed (also a blacksmith) and Katherine (née Moriarty). By the time Asa was drafted into the army, the family had moved to Sudbury.

Asa joined the 1st Depot Battalion of the 2nd Central Ontario Regiment with the regimental number 3108585. He was five feet six inches tall, with a ruddy complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. His service record shows that he left Canada for England on May 15th, 1918 on the SS City of Marseilles and arrived in France in September, where he served with the 7th Battalion. He reported sick with an infection in January 1919 and was sent to England for treatment. He left England on the SS Celtic on May 7th, 1919 and was demobilized in Toronto on May 17th.

Steed was back in Sudbury in 1921, living with his parents and still working as a blacksmith. He married Pearl Diana Lachance in Espanola, Ontario, on 26 October 1937.