Deseronto Archives

Frank (Francis) Culhane, a marine engineer, signed up in Deseronto on this day in 1916. He claimed to have been born in Napanee on March 28th, 1878, but his true date of birth seems to have been March 28th, 1873. His parents were Patrick Culhane and Sarah (née McCallum). By 1891 the family were living in Deseronto.

Frank joined the 155th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 636951. He was five feet eight inches tall, with a dark complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His service record notes that he arrived in England on October 28th, 1916 on the SS Northland and was transferred to the 21st Battalion in France on December 6th.

On May 12th, 1917 Culhane received a shell wound to his right shoulder at Thélus, near Vimy. The attack was noted in the 21st Battalion’s war diary:

WAR DIARY or INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY

21st Canadian Battalion

Place: T220.9.3

Date: 12.5.17

Summary of Events and Information: The day passed fairly quiet until about 7.00 pm when the enemy artillery opened up for a few moments on our Reserve Line causing 11 casualties

Frank was sent back to England to convalesce for six weeks. He was left with weakness in his right shoulder and hand, and spent the rest of the war attached to the Eastern Ontario Regimental Depot in Seaford, Sussex, except for a period in the spring of 1918 when he was treated in Cambridge for an infection. At a Medical Board held on September 9th, 1918 he was classed as B3, fit for sedentary work abroad. He left England on December 14th, 1918 on the RMS Olympic and arrived in Halifax five days later.

Frank Culhane’s grave, courtesy of FindaGrave.com

Culhane was discharged in Kingston on February 1st, 1919. He married Martha Ann Sharpe (widow of Ernest Sharpe, another Deseronto veteran, who had also served in the 21st Battalion) on December 5th, 1919 in Toronto. He died on November 5th, 1939 and was buried in Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery, Toronto.

Joseph Sirois signed up in Quebec on this day in 1916, the first of three enlistments for this man. He was born in Deseronto on August 10th, 1896, the son of Joseph Sirois senior and Marie Louise (née Bilodeau), who were both born in Quebec.

Sirois joined the 167th Battalion with the regimental number 672461. He was five feet two and a half inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. His service record shows that he was struck off as a deserter in May 1916.

Joseph signed up again in 1917, in Sudbury on April 2nd for the No. 1 Forestry Draft (spelling his name Sirroy). He signed up again on April 15th in Brockville. On both of these attestation papers his regimental number was 2198435. He arrived in England on May 14th, 1917 and was in France with the Canadian Forestry Corps by June 17th. In October 1918 he was transferred to the 13th Battalion.

Sirois seems to have had a troubled career in the Forestry Corps. His service record has several instances where he was punished for various infractions.

7.7.17 46th Coy. Sentenced to 14 days F.P. No. 2 for “A.W.L. from 9.30 PM 2.7.17 to 10pm 2.7.17 (2) Drunkenness (3) Committing a nuisance in tent

15.9.17 46 Co. Sentenced to 15 days F.P. No. 2 12/9/17 for “Refusing to obey an order given by a Superior Officer”

Joseph left Liverpool on the SS Baltic on June 26th and was demobilized on July 11th, 1919.

On this day in 1916 Charles Arthur Brant signed up in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He was born in Tyendinaga on October 29th, 1877, the son of Josiah Brant and Elizabeth (née Moses), who were both Mohawks.

Arthur joined the 96th Battalion with the regimental number 204555. He was five feet eight and a half inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. His service record shows that he was transferred to the 15th Battalion when he arrived in France on April 10th, 1917.

Arthur did not make it home.

Photo of Isaac Maracle from Kanhiote Tyendinaga Territory Public Library

Isaac Maracle signed up in Deseronto on this day in 1916. He was born on July 28th, 1898 in Tyendinaga, the son of Eliza Maracle, eldest daughter of Seth Maracle and Christine (née Brant) and John Maracle.

Isaac joined the 155th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 636881. He was six feet tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. His service record shows that Maracle was transferred to the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry on arrival in France on May 24th, 1917.

Isaac did not make it home.

On this day in 1916 Edward William Guy Henstridge, a clerk, signed up in Montreal. He was born in Deseronto on April 17th, 1896, the son of Francis John Henstidge and Margaret Eleanor (née Bell). By 1901 the family had moved to Montreal.

Henstridge joined the 3rd Divisional Supply Column of the Canadian Army Service Corps with the regimental number 512529. He was five feet eight inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. His service record shows that he arrived in England on the SS Metagama on May 5th, 1916 and went to France on August 11th.  On February 12th, 1918 he returned to England, pending appointment to a cadet unit in the Royal Flying Corps. He was struck off the strength of the Army Service Corps on June 16th, 1918 when he became a flight cadet in the Royal Air Force. His discharge papers from the Army note that his military character was ‘very good’.

Henstridge survived the war and arrived back in Montreal on board the SS Megantic on September 23rd, 1919. He married Elizabeth Blair McAvoy in St. Catharines on July 14th, 1923. He died on July 12th, 1973 and was buried in St. James Cemetery, Toronto.

Harry Newton Berry signed up in North Bay on this day in 1916. He was born in Deseronto on September 6th, 1889, the son of John Berry and Maggie (née Maxwell). The family moved to Wisconsin in 1895 and farmed there for a while, but were back in Ontario by 1911, when Harry was working as a clerk for the Post Office in Nipissing.

Berry joined the 228th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 1006013. He was five feet six inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. Harry’s service record shows that he arrived in France on May 28th, 1917 – by which time the 228th Battalion had become the 6th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops, which was responsible for building railways (war diaries of this unit).

Harry was discharged in Toronto on April 12th, 1919. He died on April 26th, 1957.

On this day in 1916, James Alfred Turner enlisted in Toronto, where he was working as a machinist. He stated that he was born in Deseronto on April 4th, 1898 (the 1901 census gives his date of birth as March 4th, 1897). His parents were Alfred Turner and Maria (née Bruyea) and they had moved to Toronto by 1901. Alfred died in 1903 and Maria got married again to Thomas Hughes. She had four boys from her first marriage and by 1911 she had another four children. She died in 1914.

James joined the 208th Battalion with the regimental number 249136. He was five feet four and a half inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. James gave his next of kin as Miss Nellie Verrall, his aunt, whom he was living with at 26 Ashburnham Road, Toronto. James’s brother, Charles Ross Turner (born in Toronto in 1895) signed up on April 1st, 1916, giving the same address and next of kin and joining the same battalion. Charles was five feet five and three quarter inches tall, with a medium complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

James’s service record shows that he sailed from Halifax on the SS Justicia on May 3rd, 1917. In June 1918 he was admitted to hospital with bronchitis, and in October he was wounded by a gas shell and spent another month in hospital, being discharged on November 13th, 1918. He came back to Canada on the SS Empress of Britain in February 1919 and was demobilized in Toronto on March 31st.

Both James and Charles Turner survived the war and in the 1921 census were still rooming with Nellie Verrall and her husband, Alfred, at 204 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto. James was working as a salesman and Charles as a clerk. Charles was still at this address in 1933 when he died of a fractured skull after falling off a ladder on May 22, 1933 at Glidden Ltd., 382 Wallace Avenue. Information from a family tree on Ancestry suggests that James died on June 24th, 1980.

Isaac Barnhardt signed up in Webbwood, Ontario on this day in 1916, under the name Isaac McDonald. He was born on March 5th, 1888 in Tyendinaga, the son of Joseph Barnhardt and Annie (née Doreen), who were both Mohawks.

Isaac joined the 119th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 754640. He was five feet five and three quarter inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His service record shows that he sailed from Halifax on the SS Metagama on August 8th, 1916. He was transferred to the 52nd Battalion and joined them in France on December 6th.

In January 1917 Isaac was admitted to hospital suffering from inflamed connective tissue in his right foot. He returned to duty in February. A shell explosion at Vimy Ridge in March left him partially deaf in his right ear. On November 13th, 1917 McDonald was admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound to his right shoulder. He rejoined his unit on November 22nd.

In August 1918 he was promoted to lance corporal, and a month later became a corporal. In March 1919 he was awarded the Military Medal for his actions at Boiry in August. The 52nd Battalion’s war diary explains more:

754640 Pte. I. McDonald

During the attack on BOIRY, August 28th, 1918, this man, when his platoon and section commanders had become casualties, reorganized and took charge of a Lewis Gun Section and succeeded in disposing of some enemy machine guns which were holding up the advance. Later in the day, when his machine gun was destroyed by a shell, he immediately salvaged another, and used it with such good effect, that an enemy counter attack was beaten off.

Isaac returned to Canada in March 1919 and was demobilized in Toronto on March 30th. He married Charlotte Hill on October 29th, 1919 in Tyendinaga.

On this day in 1916 Randall Edward Smith signed up in Napanee. He was born in Tyendinaga on May 25th, 1895, the son of John R. Smith and Martha Ann (née Thompson).

Randall joined the 80th Battalion with the regimental number 220534. He was five feet nine inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. His service record shows that he sailed from Canada on May 16th, 1916 on the SS Baltic.

In August 1916 Smith was diagnosed with defective vision due to congenital amblyopia, which prevented him from serving overseas. In November 1917 Smith was admitted to hospital with chronic bronchitis. He was discharged in January 1918. In May 1918 he was in hospital with neurasthenia, and in July he was admitted for six weeks, suffering from influenza. In October 1918 Smith joined the 44th Battalion in France and he stayed in France until April 1919.

Randall Smith returned to Canada on the SS Empress of Britain, arriving in Quebec City on June 4th, 1919. He was  demobilized on June 6th. He married Margaret Reid on September 6th, 1919 in Belleville. He died in Shannonville on May 26th, 1932 of a heart attack brought on by pneumonia.

On this day in 1916 Andrew Loft enlisted in Oshawa. He was born in Tyendinaga on November 25th, 1894, the son of Lawrence Loft and Mary (n&eactue;e Maracle), who were both Mohawks. He married Delia May Brant on May 18th, 1915 in Napanee.

Andrew joined the 182nd Battalion with the regimental number 868045. He was five feet six inches tall, with a dark complexion, dark brown eyes and black hair. His service record shows that he arrived in England on the SS Justicia on May 14th, 1917. In February 1918 he joined the 116th Battalion in France. He was wounded by gun shots to the left arm and leg on April 1st, 1918 and was sent back to England to recover. From June to August he was treated for an infection, then at the end of August he was operated upon to remove foreign bodies (shrapnel) from his left leg. He was discharged to duty on September 27th.

Loft left England on the SS Olympic in March 1919 and was demobilized on March 28th in Toronto. At the time of the 1921 census he was living with Delia at 53 Peter Street, Toronto. Loft served in the Second World War as well as the First. He was a member of the Deseronto Branch, No. 290, of the Royal Canadian Legion. He died in Belleville General Hospital in November 1965, leaving a daughter.