beyond the cenotaph: a 21st century commemoration
DESCRIPTION
An exploration of records from the First World War in relation to the Ontario town of Deseronto.TRANSCRIPT
Beyond the Cenotaph: a 21st century commemoration
Deseronto Archives: War memorial file
Major General Sir Archibald Cameron Macdonell
Deseronto Archives: DESHIS-09-07.1
Order of Service
Deseronto Archives: YCLB-06-02
Deseronto Archives: DESHIS-06-07
Deseronto Archives: War memorial file
34 men listed
34 men commemorated on 1923 memorial• Starting point for 2013 research
• Main resources used:
• Canadian Great War Project: http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/
• Canadian Virtual War Memorial: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org/
• Library and Archives Canada – Soldiers of the First World War: http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/
Scope starts to expand…
• Men who signed up in Deseronto but were not killed
• Around 34 additional names
• Ancestry.ca an important resource for finding out more about these men• Where they were after the war• Who they married• When they died
James Alex Kitchen
• Only three Deseronto Post newspapers survive from the First World War
• One had a photograph of a Deseronto man who had signed up…
• …in Detroit…
Scope expands again…
• To include men who gave Deseronto as their place of birth
• Or Beseronto, Deseronte, Dessonto, Desnonto, Drseronto, Desesonento, Desoronto, Deseranto, Deseront, Deserontom, Destronto, Dezerento, Deserente and Dusmonts, Deserouto, Deseconto, Desertonto, Dserento, Desaronto, Doserento (according to Ancestry’s transcribers)
• Around 160 additional names
…and again
• With the pilots from 42 Wing of the Royal Flying Corps (based in Deseronto) who died in training
• 53 additional men
More sources for locating RFC men• Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of
Casualty)• Searchable by unit (42 Wing, Deseronto)
• Local newspaper reports
• Local death registration records• Hastings County• Lennox & Addington County
The Daily Intelligencer [Belleville] 13 July 1917
Death registration entry
Robert Charles Teasdall of Toronto, aged 19, Cadet in the Royal Flying Corps
“Fracture of skull by fall from height with aeroplane”
Royal Flying Corps service records
• UK National Archives • AIR 76 - Air Ministry: Department of the Master-General
of Personnel: Officers' Service Records
• All digitized and online
• But…
• 53 Royal Flying Corps officers and men
• 35 officers’ service records identified at TNA
• 35 x £3.30 = £115.50
= $211.85
Another source of names
Yet another list of names…
From the Deseronto Post, 20 September 1919
Of the 45 names, only six had already been identified.
Some service records were not traceable, but another 24 names were added from this list
…and a few more…
May 2014 MBQ Newsletter
Another 35 Mohawk men added to the list
In total (so far…)
• 294 individuals with a connection to Deseronto or the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory signed up or enlisted
• 53 RFC men who lost their lives while attached to 42nd Wing
• …ten times as many as are listed on the cenotaph!
Vague 2013 plan
• To create a blog post on the 100th anniversary of the day each Deseronto man signed up or died
• With links out to other online resources, including LAC’s CEF service files as they become available.
• Encourage relatives of the men to contribute any information they might want to share
• Not many photos, so use signatures from attestation papers as illustrations
• To make a map of where the men are buried or commemorated in Europe
Research initially compiled in a Word document…
Associated files saved in Dropbox
Geographic context
A personal aside…
Planning blog posts
Example blog posts
Additional plans in 2014
• Gather the data together in a more useful form than the giant chronological Word document
• Do some basic data analysis on it
• Share the findings online and in local events
From Excel spreadsheet…
To Google Drive spreadsheet
Data wrangling
Deseronto Archives: Floyd Marlin Collection
Deseronto cohort: 294Fatalities: 42
Deseronto cohort: 294Mohawks: 97
Total fatalities: 42Mohawk fatalities: 22
86%90%
77%
Enlistment location Number of men
Toronto, Ontario 43Deseronto, Ontario 39Kingston, Ontario 37Belleville, Ontario 27Camp Barriefield (Kingston), Ontario 20Ottawa, Ontario 9Valcartier, Quebec 9Montreal, Quebec 8Winnipeg, Manitoba 7Vancouver, BC 6Picton, Ontario 5Barton, Ontario 4Hamilton, Ontario 4Midland, Ontario 4Napanee, Ontario 4Oshawa, Ontario 4Brantford, Ontario 3Niagara, Ontario 3
Enlistment locations for Deseronto men
Year Population of Deseronto
1891 3,338
1901 3,534
1911 1,646
Occupations on signing up
First names
Surnames
Enlistment over the duration
Deaths over the duration
Total non-RFC war deaths: 42
Total RFC war deaths: 53
RFC casualties’ birthplacesCanada 32England 8USA 7Scotland 2Unknown 4
Task ahead: blog all Deseronto WW1 enlistments, conscriptions and deaths
Number of blog posts
2014 13
2015 68
2016 127
2017 60
2018 113
2019 1
2020 1
Sharing…
• Aside from the forthcoming blog posts, all data and findings are already shared online via Google Drive
http://tinyurl.com/WW1Deseronto• Anyone can comment
• Aggregation of similar data from other communities?
Lives of the First World War
• http://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/
Summary of 1923 commemoration
• Funded by wealthy former resident• Focused on those who died• Created a physical memorial• Had a narrative rooted in patriotism and religion• Featured the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery band• And a high-ranking army officer
• Brought the community together
Still hope to bring the community together!
1923 2014-2018
Funded by wealthy former resident Mostly a volunteer effort
Focused on those who died Focused on all who were affected
Created a physical memorial Will create an online memorial
Had a narrative rooted in patriotism and religion
Will have a narrative based on personal experiences
Featured the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery band
And a Major GeneralProbably won’t have a soundtrack
Or a high-ranking army officer
In summary
• Freely-accessible online archival resources for Canadians’ First World War experiences are FABULOUS and getting better all the time:• Library & Archives Canada’s digitization of service
records• Imperial War Museum’s ‘Lives of the First World War’
project [?]
• Determine intention and scope of your project• If you don’t want it to get out of hand!
RespectRemindRelate
See the stories unfold at:
Blog: http://deserontoarchives.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @DeserontoArch
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeserontoArchives.Ontario