Deseronto Archives

On this day in 1916 Bert Leaf, a teamster,  signed up in Deseronto. He claimed to have been born in Ottawa on March 31st, 1887, although when he married Mabel Pearson in Napanee in 1904, he gave his place of birth as Watertown, New York and could not give the names of his parents. Bert and Mabel had four children by the time he joined the army.

Bert joined the 155th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 636773. He was five feet three and a quarter inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His service file shows that he sailed from Halifax on October 17th, 1916 on the SS Northland.

On April 22nd 1917 Leaf joined the 21st Battalion in France. In 1918 he spent time in hospital suffering from infections. He returned to duty in June and was reported missing after seeing action on August 26th. Four days later, he was reported as being safely back with his unit. He left England for Canada in September 1919 and was demobilized on September 17th in Kingston.

A note on his service file states that Bert Leaf died on July 3rd, 1954.

Anthony Maracle joined up in Mount Forest, Ontario on this day in 1916. He stated that he was born in Deseronto on January 15th, 1886. He was the son of Moses Maracle and Jane Williams, who were both Mohawks.

Maracle joined the 153rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 928669. He was five feet five inches tall with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. His service record shows that he was discharged on May 15th, 1916 as medically unfit for service.

Anthony Maracle died of tuberculosis in Tyendinaga on April 28th, 1919.

Death registration for Anthony Maracle, courtesy of the Archives of Ontario

Wilfred Laurier Couture, an electrician, signed up in Toronto on this day in 1916. He was born in Deseronto on May 10th, 1894, the son of Ephraim Couture and Martha Ann (née Beyette) and he attended the Deseronto High School. He was living at 128 Lisgar Street in Toronto when he enlisted.

Couture joined the Depot Squadron of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, with the regimental number 550129. His service record shows that he arrived in England on the SS Lapland on March 24th, 1916. He served in France from September 22nd, 1916 to April 16th, 1919. He was demobilized in Canada at ‘Dispersal Station B’ on June 5th, 1919.

James Cole completed an Officer’s Declaration Paper in Marlbank on this day in 1916. He was born in Deseronto on October 20th, 1897, the son of James Cole and Eliza (née Brown). The family were living on Upper Mill Street in Deseronto at the time of the 1911 census. James attended Deseronto High School and described himself as a student when he signed up. His service record notes that he originally enlisted in November 1915 in the 155th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

On June 18th, 1916, while he was at Camp Barriefield, Cole was thrown from a horse, causing bad bruising. A Board of Inquiry was convened six days later, at which Cole and the paymaster, Captain Holton gave evidence about the accident:

1st Evidence: Lieut. J. E. Cole being duly warned states:

“On Sunday Morning about 11 A. M., June 18th, having received permission to take one of the 155th horses out, I mounted a bay horse, name unknown to me. Immediately the horse became balky and unmanageable. He carried me off the road, (behind the 155th Camp) under the trees, then reared, falling back and on top of me. The weight of the horse falling principally on my left leg and thigh.

[signed] J. E. Cole

Lieut. 155th Battalion, C.E.F.

Evidence: Capt. C. H. Holton, Paymaster, 155th Battalion being duly warned states:

“On Sunday Morning 18th June about 11 o’clock I was standing watching Lieut. Cole, preparing horse for mounting. He mounted: horse reared, standing on hind legs, going under low branch of tree, then rearing again, turned completely over, falling on rider. Someone got help from A. M. C. [Army Medical Corps] and took Lieut. Cole to his tent.

By July 19th Cole had recovered and was declared fit for duty. He travelled to England on the RMS Olympic, arriving on August 30th. He joined the 42nd Battalion in France on September 23rd. On November 29th, 1916 Cole was injured when a high explosive threw him into a wooden support. Shortly afterwards he was admitted to hospital with renal colic, caused by damage to his kidneys in the incident. He was sent to England to recover and was transferred to the 20th Reserve Battalion in March 1917. He reported abdominal pain in April and had his appendix removed on April 11th. He was discharged from hospital on May 17th.

Xray of James Cole’s left foot, taken from his service record

In October 1917 Cole was  attached to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer. On December 8th he was shot in an air fight over Cambrai in France: the bullet hit his left heel and caused a compound fracture. The Royal Flying Corps casualty card noted that he was in a DH 4 aircraft with a Rolls Royce engine at the time. Cole spent the next two and a half months in hospital in England and was discharged to Canada on March 1st, 1918. On April 11th he was admitted to Kingston General Hospital with pain in his left heel. In September he had an operation at Toronto General Hospital to remove abdominal adhesions. In August 1919 he was admitted to the St. Anne de Bellevue Military Hospital in Quebec complaining of pain in his abdomen and left heel. He was discharged in December 1919.

In 1921 Cole was living with his parents in Main Street, Deseronto, where his father worked as a barber. James’s occupation was given as ‘apprentice barber’. The photograph below shows the Cole’s barbershop at 305 Main Street, on the right of the image.

James died in Penticton, British Columbia on July 14th, 1967.

On this day in 1916, Thomas William Ellis enlisted in Belleville. He was born in Hastings County on July 29th, 1898, the son of William Ellis and Amanda (née Vesterfelt). When he enlisted, his address was 110 Cannifton Road, Belleville, but his service record shows that his parents were living in Deseronto. Ellis is listed as a former student of Deseronto High School.

Tom joined the 155th Battalion with the regimental number 636713.  He was five feet eight inches tall, with a medium complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. According to his service record, he arrived in England on the SS Northland on October 28th, 1916. He served in England until September 1917, when he was transferred to the 21st Battalion and sent to France. He did not make it home.

On this day in 1916, Jacob Green signed up in Deseronto, the second local man of this name to enlist. Jacob stated that he was born in Shannonville on March 13th, 1896. His parents were Archie Green and Jane Brant (Jane died in 1911 of tuberculosis), who were both Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. He gave Lydia Brant, his grandmother, as his next of kin.

Jacob joined the 155th Battalion with the regimental number 636686. He had a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. His service record shows that he arrived in England on the SS Northland on October 28th, 1916 and joined the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles in France on December 6th. He was ill with impetigo and appendicitis while overseas and was injured in the left forearm by a gunshot on October 27th, 1917. Green rejoined his unit in France on September 11th, 1918.

Jacob left England for Canada on March 3rd, 1919 and was demobilized at Kingston on March 28th. He married Winnie Hill in Deseronto on June 5th, 1919. He died on July 1st, 1959.

Charles Hodgkisson signed up on this day in 1916 in Deseronto. He was born in Birmingham, England, on October 21st, 1888, the son of Charles Hodgkisson and Emily (née Johnson) and came to Canada in 1905. He married Isabella Shatraw in Deseronto on September 5th, 1912.

Hodgkisson joined the 155th Battalion with the regimental number 636687. He was five feet four and a half inches tall, with a dark complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. His service record shows that he left Canada on the SS Northland on October 17th, 1916. He joined the 21st Battalion in France in early December, 1916.

Hodgkisson was hospitalized twice: for a week in August 1917 for folliculitis of the beard, and for two months from August 1918 when he suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm.

Charles was demobilized in Kingston on February 10th, 1919, and was living in Pearl Street, Deseronto in 1921 with Isabella and their five-year-old daughter. Isabella died of tuberculosis on January 3rd, 1922. Hodgkisson got married again on October 2nd, 1923 in Tyendinaga, to Lillian May Lindsay. His daughter died in 1937 at the age of 20, also of tuberculosis. Charles died in Kingston on October 27th, 1962.

On this day in 1916 Hughie Norval Powless, a carpenter, signed up in Hamilton. He was born in Tyendinaga on January 5th, 1896, the son of John Powless and Margaret (née Brant). In 1911 he was living at the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford. He married Lulu Ethel English shortly after enlisting, on March 9th, 1916 in Hamilton. The couple were living with their son, Francis, and Hughie’s parents at 7 Canon Street West in Hamilton.

Powless joined the 173rd Battalion with the regimental number 690315. He was described as five feet five and three quarter inches tall, with a dark complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair. His service file shows that he left Halifax on the SS Olympic on April 29th, 1917. He was transferred to the 125th Battalion and later served in France with the 7th Canadian Railway Troops. In June 1918 he was admitted to hospital, suffering from trench fever. In April 1919 he was transferred back to Canada on the SS Scotian. On the journey, he contracted influenza and was sent to hospital in New Brunswick, suffering from pneumonia. He was discharged in Hamilton on May 23rd as medically unfit.

Hughie went on to serve in World War II. You can read more about him in this blog post by Bob Richardson. He died in Pomona, California in 1978.

Edwin Arthur Jarrett signed up in Toronto on this day in 1916. He was born in Deseronto on January 29th, 1898, the youngest of the five children of Stephen Jarrett and Mary (née Royce). His father died in October 1898 and Mary had moved her family to Toronto by 1901, where she was running a boarding house.

Edwin and his brother Stephen Henry Royce Jarrett (who was born in Toronto) joined up together. Edwin’s regimental number was 503167, his brother’s 503168. They joined the Divisional Signal Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. Edwin was five feet eight inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His brother had similar colouring but was slightly shorter at five feet six and a quarter inches.

Their service records show that the brothers arrived in England on the SS Baltic on May 29th, 1916 and were both transferred to the 4th Divisional Signal Company. They went to France on August 11th, 1916. Both brothers were promoted (Edwin to Corporal, Stephen to Lance Corporal) and both were awarded Military Medals. They remained in the same unit throughout the war and returned to Canada on the Mauretania together, leaving England on May 31st, 1919. They were demobilized in Toronto on June 8th.

In 1921 Edwin was back with his mother and his two youngest sisters in Toronto, living at 29 Lonsdale Road and working as an accountant. He married Nora Jarrett (they were second cousins) in Hamilton on May 18th, 1922. Stephen was in York with his wife, Elsie and three sons in 1921. Edwin died in Etobicoke in 1976, while Stephen died in 1972 in Toronto.