A century ago, thousands of Kingston and Frontenac County soldiers and other personnel enlisted in the Great War, while their families and friends waited anxiously at home for news of them. These people lived in your town, in your neighbourhood, and maybe even in your home.
The KFPL Home Town, Home Front WWI Postcard Project invited Kingston-Frontenac residents to learn about the families who lived in their communities during World War I. Everyone was welcome to participate, and to share their stories and discoveries.
We've collected some of these stories, about the soldiers, nursing sisters, and families who live in Kingston-Frontenac a century ago.
- brothers-in-law Elijah Thompson and Norman Curtis Selman, Barrie Township, served with the 146th Battalion. Elijah was invalided home in March 1918 after surviving Vimy Ridge, Hill 70 and Passchendaele.
- Harold Roland Abbott of Mountain Grove served with the 146th Battalion. He died of pneumonia just over two months after his enlistment in 1916 at Sharbot Lake.
- Benjamin Davy and his brother Irwin Davy both enlisted from their family home at 50 O'Kill Street, which is now part of the Queen's University campus.
- John Herbert McLeod, 406 Johnson Street, served with the 38th Battalion and was recommended for a Military Medal.
- Thomas Hancock, 155 Bagot Street, was captured at the Battle of St. Julien and spent much of the war in a German prisoner-of-war camp.
If you have a WWI story you'd like to share, please contact us