Deseronto Archives

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.

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.

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.

On this day in 1915, Frank Callaghan, a fireman from Deseronto, signed up in Napanee. He was born in Richmond Township, Lennox and Addington County on July 10th, 1889, the son of Denis Callaghan and Nora (née Pelkington). He married Vera Richardson of Napanee on March 3rd, 1914 in Toronto.

Callaghan was five feet eight and a half inches tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. He had previously served for three years with the 5th Canadian Field Artillery. He joined the 59th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 454676. He gave his mother, Nora, as his next of kin and a note on the attestation paper next to his marital status reads “wife has left bed and board”. His service record, however, shows that Vera was in receipt of Callaghan’s pay from the army.

Callaghan arrived in England on September 5th, 1915 and joined the 20th Battalion in France in February 1916. He received a severe gun shot wound to his right arm on October 2nd, 1916 near Courcelette and was hospitalized in England for a month. On November 10th of 1917, Frank was awarded the Military Medal. Here is the citation card:

Citation card for Francis Vincent Callaghan’s Military Medal, courtesy of Library and Archives Canada

MILITARY MEDAL

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On 10th of Nov: 1917 though on duty in an advanced first aid post, this stretcher bearer hearing that his comrades, who could not be evacuated from the WRATH FARM ROAD at the time, were in need of first aid treatment, volunteered to go to their assistance. He worked with the utmost skill and disregard for his own safety, dressing and cheering these casualties, although in the midst of gas shells whilst doing to. Later in the day he showed the same devotion to his wounded comrades until overcome by gas his removal from the line became necessary.

[On the reverse of this card] He has consistently performed similar services to his comrades in previous actions.

Frank left England in March 1919 and was demobilized on March 27th in Kingston. His wife died on March 6th, 1922 in Kingston General Hospital and was buried in Napanee. Frank was listed as the informant on her death registration, living in Point Anne. He got married again shortly afterward, on June 9th, 1922 to Helen Selden, also of Point Anne. He died on September 30th, 1961 and was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, Scarborough.

On this day in 1915, Robert Edward ‘Teddy’ Large enlisted at Camp Barriefield in Kingston. He was born in Belleville on April 6th, 1898, the son of Robert Large and Eliza (née Clark). In the 1901 and 1911 censuses, the family were living in Deseronto and Teddy attended Deseronto High School.

When he signed up, Large was five feet nine inches tall, with a medium complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. His regimental number in the Canadian Engineers was 500226. His service record shows that Teddy arrived in France on January 18th, 1916. On June 14th of that year he was buried by soil after a shell explosion, injuring his right knee. He then spent several months in hospital being treated for synovitis. He was discharged back to his unit in January 1917 and served in England for the rest of the war. He arrived back in Halifax on July 1st, 1919 and was demobilized on July 3rd in Kingston.

Teddy Large died on November 27th, 1926 at Toronto General Hospital of kidney failure. He was buried in Newmarket, Ontario.

On this day in 1915 Ernest Walter Davey signed up in Montreal. He was a banker, the son of Edward Davey and Frances (née Smith), born May 5th, 1891 in Deseronto. The day before he enlisted, Davey married Gladys Cook in Toronto, where they were living at 433 Indian Grove.

On enlisting, Davey was five feet three inches tall, with a fair complexion, grey eyes and dark hair. His regimental number was MCG176 and he joined the 2nd University Company. Davey’s service record shows that he was admitted to hospital in England suffering from appendicitis in August 1915. He was then attached to the Pay and Record Office in London between October 1915 and October 1916, when he again in hospital, this time with bronchitis.

In January 1917 Davey was transferred to the 7th Reserve Battalion in Seaford, Sussex, and he went to France on 19 March 1917 with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. By May 1917, he was back in England with bronchitis and he remained in England until January 1918 when he was sent back to Canada. He was discharged from the army in Toronto on 12 March 1918 as physically unfit for further duty.

After the war, Ernest had two children with Gladys, but he died of pneumonia in Timiskaming, Ontario on January 27th, 1922. At the time of his death, he was a commercial traveller. Gladys got remarried in Timiskaming in 1928, to Harry Stanford Worth.

On this day in 1915, Huron Clause enlisted in Niagara, Ontario. On his attestation paper he gave his place of birth as Deseronto and his date of birth as July 22, 1889. Huron was a Mohawk and was working as a lumberman when he signed up.

On enlisting Huron Clause was described as five feet seven inches tall, with a dark complexion, dark grey eyes and black hair. He joined the 37th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 408046. His service record shows that he arrived in England on August 26th, 1915 and was transferred to the 17th Battalion. He also served in the Canadian Ordnance Corps in 1916 in England. He spent a month in hospital in England in the summer of 1916 with an infected thumb. He was granted permission to marry on December 27th, 1916 and married May Lawrence in London on that day.

In April 1917 Clause was transferred to the Canadian Forestry Corps, serving with them in France from May.  He was diagnosed in October 1917 with trench fever and set back to England to recover. The trench fever left him weak and in pain and only able to walk with a cane.

Huron was sent back to Canada in June 1918 and a medical board at Niagara Camp recommended  that he should be discharged as unfit for service. He was discharged in Toronto on August 8th, 1918 as physically unfit. In 1921 he and May were living in Orillia with their three children: Dorothy, Lily and Robert. Clause died in Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto, on May 19th, 1973.

On this day in 1915 Arthur Howard enlisted in Kingston. He was born in that city on 17 January 1895, the son of Ethel (née Norton) and Herbert Howard and was a student at Queen’s University when he signed up. Herbert Howard was the accountant for the Bank of Montreal in Deseronto and his family were living in the apartment above the bank (now the Town Hall) at the time of the 1911 census.

Sid (as he was known) signed up under the name Albert and he added a year to his age, claiming to have been born in 1894. He joined the 26th Battery of the 7th Canadian Field Artillery Brigade as a driver with the regimental number 89754. When he enlisted, Sid was described as five feet eight inches tall, with a dark complexion, blue eyes and black hair. Howard’s service record shows that he landed in England on August 18th, 1915 and (after being hospitalized with an infection) left for France in January 1916. His service record is mysteriously silent about what he did in 1916, but notes that he joined his unit in the field in March 1917. He was hospitalized again that year with another infection.

Sid Howard’s neice, Cynthia Tappay, tells us that after serving in France he volunteered for service in the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (this is confirmed in his service record) and served in Russia from October 1918 to July 1919. He was promoted to Bombardier on April 14th, 1919. The family story is that Sid and his friend Dough Jemmett smuggled an orphaned Russian boy back to Canada with them and the boy ended up in Northern Ontario.

Sid was demobilized in Montreal on July 15th, 1919 and returned to Deseronto after leaving the army. He moved to Salt Lake City in Utah in September 1919 to work for his uncle Bill (his father’s brother). He married Ellen [?] of Nisqually, Washington around 1921 and became naturalized as an American on June 21, 1928 in Tacoma, Washington. By the time of the 1930 census the couple had a son called Robert. Sid died of a tetanus infection in Tacoma on November 22, 1934.