My Military Ancestors
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John James Joseph “Jack” McPhail and Annie George
After being discharged from the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, John James Joseph “Jack” McPhail married Annie George. The couple had five children together.
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John Griffin and Sarah Jane Goodland
John Griffin married Sarah Jane Goodland on March 24, 1884, in the parish church of St. Paul in Kewstoke, Somerset, England. They had five sons and one daughter.
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Elijah Loxham Longworth and Mary Elizabeth Derbyshire and Mary Ann Pearl Condon
Elijah Loxham Longworth married Mary Elizabeth Derbyshire in 1909 at St. Peter’s Church in Chorley and then moved to Canada, without her.
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John Harold Griffin and Dorothy Wilkes
John Harold Griffin left his family in England and emigrated to New Zealand. After a stint in the military, he married Dorothy Wilkes and had a family.
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Eleanor Webb and Her “Husbands”
My great-aunt Eleanor Webb was a bit of an outlier – I wasn’t even aware she existed until I found her marriage record in Ontario.
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Who is Huff Hobbs?
I’ve been attempting to identify several men who were identified by their nicknames in a World War I era photo that features my great-grandfather, including “Huff” Hobbs.
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75th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Forces, 11th Brigade
I found this fantastic postcard amongst my grandmother’s photo albums. My great grandfather, Arthur Bird Griffin is on the left behind the big guy in the front.
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Henry Matthew Ireson and Margaret Josephine Aldcroft
Henry Matthew Ireson emigrated from England and married Margaret Josephine Aldcroft on November 28, 1908, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
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World War I: May, 1917, France
I found this military photo amongst my Grandmother’s things. I’ve tried to identify the men in the picture back to their army records.
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Alfred James Webb Dyke, Ellen Atkins and Euphemia Stewart McCubbin
Alfred James Webb Dyke was a war hero – with a checkered past.
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AG Knapper
AG has been chasing errant relatives for almost twenty years, uncovering stories of harrowing bravery, tragic death, and criminal behaviour. She continues to collect live relatives on both sides of the pond - and would love to hear from you! Use the contact buttons below if you've found one of your relatives in this mismatched bunch of hooligans.
My Great-Grandparents
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William Alfred Webb and Louie Shepherd
William Alfred Webb married Louie Shepherd on December 31, 1904, in Bradford, Lancashire, England. They had five children, but only two survived to adulthood.
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Frederick Samuel Gardiner and Mary Anne Whelan (and Clayton Loucks)
After being widowed with two young boys, Mary Anne Whelan remarried quickly, on September 26, 1922, to Frederick Samuel Gardiner.
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Mystery Solved – Mary Ann Whelan died October 11, 1957
It took a long, slow troll of the Hamilton Spectator, but I was able to locate the full obituary for my great-grandmother, Mary Ann Whelan, in the October 12, 1957 edition of the Hamilton Spectator. (More on Mary Ann here.) It reads: Mrs. Frederick Gardiner, the former Mary Ann Whelan,
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When Did Mary Ann Whelan Die?
I found amongst my grandmother’s photo collection the obituary for her mother. I knew she died in 1957 (as I’ve got a record of the grave site), but wasn’t clear on the actual date.
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Arthur Bird Griffin and Lily Moore
Just a week after enlisting, Arthur Bird Griffin married Lily Moore on September 8, 1915, at St. Luke’s Church in Hamilton, Ontario.
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George Leonard Archibald “Nipper” McPhail and Alice Elizabeth Eagan
When George Leonard Archibald McPhail (known as Leonard or “Nipper”) was born on February 11, 1898, in Soulanges, Quebec, his father, Archibald James Jacob McPhail (1870-1941), was 27 and his mother, Cecelia (née Garrow) (1876-1941), was 21. He had five brothers and four sisters. Records show Leonard crossed the border in
