Ernest Whitman Bigelow

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll

Ernest Whitman Bigelow  196^th Battalion, ( Western Universities ) C.E.F., 46th Battalion
Signed his attestation papers on the 17^th of June 1916 at Vancouver, B.C., he was living in Port Coquitlam.
  911998   Service File: PDF   Barrister.  Born on the 4^th of June 1889 at Canso, Nova Scotia.

In 1914 granted the permission to be a notary public, working in Port Coquitlam
Went to France, in April 1917  and at Vimy Ridge while bringing in the wounded he was shot in left arm. Sent to No.1 Convalescent Depot, Bologne.  At the end of May 1917 sent to England, where in June he had gonorrhoea.   He was discharged as medically unfit on the 30^th of April 1918.

NOTE: apparently 1 in 9 soldiers would suffer from this disease, and the prostitutes favored the Canadian soldiers because they were better paid, than the other countries personnel.

FATHER: Abraham Whitman Bigelow ( – 1918 ) (first marriage to, Emma M. Wylde  )
MOTHER: Sarah Pyle ( 1861 – 1943 ) married in 1879

SIBLINGS: Lila Emma Bigelow "Moffatt", Hazel Carrie Bigelow "Hastie",( 1886 - ); William Samuel Bigelow, ( 1887 - 1963 )-{ 463732 }

1891 Census: Guysborough,Canso, Nova Scotia. Captures the family; Abraham Whitman Bigelow was a local merchant, hotel keeper…
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Ernest Whitman Bigelow, after the war he lived in Port Coquitlam, and practiced law in the Coquitlam-Mission, B.C. area.

Advertisement from October 1919, which ran in the paper until the middle of 1921 in the Abbottsford Post

 
  He died on the 20^th of May 1933 at Essondale Hospital; where he had spent the last 10 years of his life, being admitted on the 1st of September 1924.  he was single and suffering from sarcoma of his lungs, and  dementia praecox.   He is buried in Fraser Cemetery,  IOOF plot, New Westminster, Veterans section Lot 8 Blk.10.

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NOTE: On the Find-a-Grave site, the listing for Ernest Whitman Bigelow, has a wild story at the bottom that does not fit in at all with what is on the death certificate.

Leonard Bundy

Essondale Honour Roll
Eaton Socon war memorial

Leonard Bundy, Corporal, 104^th Westminster Fusiliers; BCR 7^th Battalion.
Signed his attestation papers on the 23^rd of September 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec; he was made a corporal the same day.     17083
     Hospital attendant at Essondale Hospital 
Born on the 12^th of January 1884, at Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire, England.

 

Recently found photograph of Leonard Bundy, which was part of a large collage of photographs of Essondale Hospital staff.  ca. 1914-1915?

FATHER: George Bundy
MOTHER: Mary Bundy

Leonard Bundy immigrated from England in 1907, the 1911 census, finds him living as a lodger in Toronto East, at 370 Berkley Street; and working as a Toronto policeman. The 1912 directories, show that he continued to live at the same place, and work as a policeman, until 1912; after 1913 no reference to him.

Corporal Leonard Bundy was wounded and missing his unit was in the area of Keersalaere to St. Julien, Belgium at the time.

      He was presumed dead on the 24^th of April 1915. His remains have never been found, so he is commemorated in the Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial.

He is also commemorated in a war memorial at Eaton Socon

Virtual Memorial for Leonard Bundy

Page 613, of the Circumstances of Death Registers.

A family member has shared some of the Service file on this Page
NOTE: He is not commemorated on the Port Coquitlam, or Coquitlam cenotaphs, but he was noted in the Hospital Annual Reports

Ernest Lewer Buck

Port Coquitlam Honour roll

Ernest Lewer Buck  C.A.M.C.  Signed his attestation papers on the 13^th of April 1916 at Vancouver, B.C.  524866      sawyer.   Born on the 17^th of October 1872 at London, England. Home: was Port Coquitlam; the 1911 Census, mentions that he immigrated in 1903, and was a tallyman at the sawmill at the Coquitlam Lake dam.

BROTHER: Alfred William Buck,  of Perth, Western Australia.

1906 Census. Manitoba, Souris, Cartwright  
1911 Census New Westminster, Dewdney Riding , page11
 

1945 Cariboo Observer:  "Sergt." Ernie Buck in hospital. His health was deteriorating, mentioned frequently in the local newspapers from now on.

In 1946  special nurse-orderly, formerly with the Canadian Army Medical Corps Ernie Buck, accompanied Benjamin Grigin ⁽¹⁾ by plane to Vancouver.

⁽¹⁾ Benjamin Alfred Griffin (1870 - 1946 ) Benjamin died five days later at Essondale after Ernie Buck accompanied Ben to the Coast. Ben suffered from senile dementia, and is buried in the Woodlands Cemetery 
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1949 Ernie in Vancouver for treatment "Old Sarge" the branches oldest legionnaire, and general favourite.

1949 September   "Adjourner" missed
Considerable difficulty was encountered by the meeting in getting a motion of adjournment, due to the absence of the official "adjourner," E.L. (The Sarge) Buck. granddaddy of the Cariboo branch who at present is at the Coast getting medical attention.

 Cariboo Observer  6 July 1950  page one.

Last rites held for E.L. Buck

QUESNEL Legionnaires and members of the Quesnel Branch BPO Elks joined in paying final tribute to a departed brother when funeral services were held at the Church of St. John the Divine on Tuesday for Ernest L. Buck who passed away in Quesnel Hospital on the evening of June 29. He was in his 85th year.

      Service was read by Canon O. Berry, Padre of the Legion Branch here, and at the graveside rites were conducted by S.A. Hilborn, acting Chaplain for the BPOE, and Norman Palmer, Legion President.
Pipe Major Adam Smith played the Lament.

       Pall bearers were brothers of both the Legion and the Elks. Representing the Legion were George Johnston, Arthur Dixon, and Joseph Walker. Lodge brothers acting as pall bearers were P.L. Siemens, Arthur Collver and J. Sales.

     Born near London England in 1865. Mr. Buck lived in the Isle of Wight and at Brechen, Wales. He came to the Territory of Dakota with a band of Welsh immigrants in 1883. He acted as a Justice of the Peace in Cavalier County for many years.

     He moved to Manitoba at the turn of the century and arrived on the Pacific Coast about 1908. He located in Vancouver and worked with the B. C. Electric Co., as head teamster on a number of construction jobs.

     At the outbreak of World War I he enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps and served in base hospitals in England, returning home in 1919.

   Prior to moving to Cariboo about 20 years ago he had been located at Trail. On first coming to the Central Interior he was located at various points along the Nazko Road, eventually making his home in Quesnel about ten years ago.

    Known familiarly as "Sarge" to a wide circle of friends, he took an active interest in both Lodge and the Quesnel Legion branch #94  affairs.
He held life memberships in both organizations.

    At the time the Elks Lodge #298  was chartered in Quesnel it was learned that he had been a member of the organization for 30 years prior to the formation of the first Lodge in Canada, and was for a time believed to be the oldest member in the Dominion.
This was later found to be incorrect.
    As far as can be determined he had no known surviving relatives.

Ernest Lewer Buck died on the 29^th of June 1950 at the Quesnel General Hospital, and he is buried in the Quesnel Cemetery.

NOTE: his death certificate states that he was born on the 14^th of October 1865, (Brentford, Middlesex) which appears to be a correct date; as usual never matches the attestation paper date of 17^th of October 1872.

Peter Brass

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll

Peter Brass 68^th O/S Depot Field Battery, then 15^th Brigade
Signed his attestation papers on the 1st of May 1916, at Vancouver, B.C.
338857   railroad worker, living in Ruskin, B.C. Born on the 16^th of January 1882  Sandwick, Orkneys, Scotland.

FATHER: John Brass
MOTHER: Ellen Brass

SISTER: Annie Mary Brass

        The family appear to have been living at a place called Instably, Quoyloo, Sandwick, Orkney Isles, Scotland.

      Peter Brass, died at Mission, B.C. on the 12^th of July 1939, buried at the Hatzic Cemetery .
At the time of his death home was at Ruskin, and he was the Ruskin C.P.R. section foreman. He worked 2 weeks before his death of a pulmonary embolism

James Alexander Bonson

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll

James Alexander Bonson  224^th Battalion Canadian Forestry.
Signed his attestation papers on the 3^rd of April 1916, at Vancouver, B.C.   299251      Service File: PDF   Bridge builder. Born on the 10^th of February 1869, at New Westminster, B.C.

      Discharged after only six weeks, his heart was showing issues, and he was deemed medically unfit.  But he was able to live a normal life.
  His father owned large tracts of land in Maple Ridge, obtained through Crown Grants

Left to Right: Robert Bonson, Mrs. Lewis Francis Bonson, James Alexander Bonson (on mother's lap), Marian Bonson, Henry Bonson, Mr. Lewis Bonson, and Charles Bonson. ca.1870?   Vancouver Archives  A47239

FATHER: Lewis Francis Bonson ( 1830 – 1917 )
MOTHER: Jemima Urquhart ( 1834 – 1915 )
Some of the Bonson family history from the Maple Ridge Museum

In 1899  James married Annie Georgina Haugh,( 1881 – )
Children with Annie:
Dorothy Marion Bonson, ( 1902 -  ),  Lewis Haugh Bonson, ( 1900 – )
Married in 1912 Henrietta Jessie Ewart Welsh, ( 1891 - 1974 )
SON: Ross. J. Bonson 

James Alexander Bonson, died on the 7^th of July 1954, at the Royal Columbian hospital, New Westminster, B.C. He is buried at  Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Burnaby.
A retired steam engineer

BROTHERS: Robert Forest Bonson (1862 – 1938 ),
                     Henry William Bonson ( 1864 - 1910 )
SISTER: Marion Bonson; Marion Hoy ( 1860 – 1943 )

Marion Bonson, daughter of Lewis Bonson at age sixteen. ca. 187?
New Westminster Archives IHP6716

A fonds exists from James Alexander Bonson at the Vancouver Archives

William Earle Bolton

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll

William Earle Bolton  Lieutenant  Lord Strathcona's Horse "A" Squadron.
Signed his attestation papers on the 4^th of September 1914 at  Valcartier,Quebec.
    He was a student living in Port Coquitlam, at that time.   2465    Service File:  PDF  
Prior military activities: BCH; 22^nd S.L.H. 1yr.
Born on the 4^th of May 1892 at Toronto, Ontario.

     Some history about Bolton family  
             1901Census: Sault St. Marie, Ontario
             1911Census: Lloydminster, Saskatchewan

FATHER: William Daniel Bolton ( 1852 – 1932 )
MOM: Esther Walker ( 18 June 1856 – )

SISTER : Mabel "Beth" Gertrude Bolton, Mabel Gertrude Webster ( 1890- )
WIFE: Sarah Ethel Victoria Tyhurst, Sarah Ethel Victoria Bolton ( 1858 - 1939 ) they were married on the 22^nd of August 1918 in Brighton, England.
SON: Robert Earl Bolton, Randy Bolton
DAUGHTERS: Susan Bolton, Cathy Bolton

William Earl Bolton, died on the 24^th or 27^th of March 1936 at Ottawa, Ontario. He is buried in the Beechwood Cemetery,Ottawa, Ontario.

Eugene Frederick Biart

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll
Burnaby Honour Roll
 

Eugene Frederick Biart  Lieutenant   "B" Battery Royal Canadian Horse Artillery,(R.C.H.A.),  2^nd Canadian Divisional Ammunition Column, 6^th Canadian Artillery Brigade, Canadian Artillery Regimental Depot, and D.D. No.7, mentioned in despatches.

        Signed his attestation papers on the 23^rd of September 1914 at Valcartier, Quebec.   6100   clerk.   Born on the 26^th of March 1890 Dover, Kent, England
Military service prior: 3 years with the R.F.A. (territorials)      Service File: PDF 

        Eugene served in England and spent 34 months in France at the Front. His only medical issue was a severe case of Furunculosis, (boils).
After the war he became an accountant, retired in 1950 and appears to have lived primarily in Vancouver, B.C.

MOTHER: Lavinia Biart
FATHER: Charles Francois Biart, Charles Francis Biart
Eugene, died on the 29^th of October 1970, at Shaughnessy Hospital, Vancouver, B.C.
he was cremated.

Married in 1917 Mildred Newing, Midred Biart ( 1889 – 1963 )
WIFE:(2) Elfrida Muriel Gorill Foster, Elfrida Muriel Gorill Biart

Archie Beaton

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll

Archibald Beaton, Archie Beaton.   Canadian Railway Construction. Corps.
      Signed his attestation papers on the 9^th of April 1915, at Vancouver, B.C.   398
Bridge foreman.  Born on the 27^th of March 1880(1877), at Commercial Cross, Prince Edward Island.

FATHER: Murdock Beaton, Murdoch Beaton
MOTHER: Christine Matheson, Christine Beaton

1891 census finds the family in the Commercial Cross area, and lists the children;

Catherine Beaton,(1875 - ), Bella Mary Beaton, (1880 – ), Norman Beaton, Mary Annie Beaton..

Archie Beaton died at the Royal Columbian Hospital, New Westminster, B.C. on the 19^th of January 1956, and was buried in the Hatzic Cemetery, Mission, B.C. ( Find-a-Grave reference )
Archie was single, and was a retired C.P.R. bridge superintendent, after working 42 years for the company. Home was somewhere along the Lougheed Highway, in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

George Bates

Port Coquitlam Cenotaph

Virtual Memorial for George Bates

George Bates, British Columbia Regiment 29^th Battalion   75527  Enlisted on the12^th of November 1914.  Service File: PDF
Born  22^nd of August 1887 Toronto, Ontario.  machinist.

FATHER: Norman  Bates
MOTHER: Sally,   of Mena, Arkansas

WIFE: Katherine “Kate” she moved to Holland Cottage, Denbigh, North Wales; then appears to have moved back to B.C.

Died in hospital on the 31^st of August 1915, at 9:20 A.M., age 28. He is buried at the Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, Kent, England.  Cause of death was, Peritonitis, on autopsy showed a perforated gastric ulcer

NOTE:  The virtual memorial mentions that he was married to a Katherine Dacre, in 1912; but the information on the marriage certificate does not match this George Bates, in numerous instances.
Katherine Bates ( 1882 – 1959 ) 
DAUGHTER: Doris M. Grant

David Edmund Baird

Port Coquitlam cenotaph

Port Coquitlam cenotaph, western side plinth

David Edmund Baird  29^th Battalion, British Columbia Regiment.
      Signed his attestation papers on the 11^th of November 1914 at Vancouver, B.C.   75565   laborer. David was born on the 14^th of May 1895, in Quebec

  "Killed in Action" on the 13^th of August 1916 while his unit was in the St. Eloi Sector.
  David is buried at Reninghelst New Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderan, Belgium.     Virtual Memorial for David Edmund Baird

MOTHER: Mary Jane Peever, Mary Jane Baird 1870 – 1943
FATHER: William John Baird

BROTHER: B or E. Baird
SISTER: Susan Ann Baird , Susan Ann Cook  14 June 900 Thornby, Quebec – 1988

NOTE: Sadly very little appears to be known about this fellow.

Stanley Cooke Ballard

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll

Stanley Cook Ballard, Stanley Cooke Ballard  131^st Battalion   790398      Service File: PDF  Stanley signed his attestation papers on the 14^th of January 1916, at New Westminster, B.C. His brother Norman Spencer Ballard, enlisted at the same time, both were living in Port Coquitlam at that time.   tinsmith. Later after the war a trucker.  Born on the 21^st of February 1895  at Sandhurst, Kent, England.   Active: 104^th Regt.

FATHER: Thomas Ballard 1866 – 1928
MOTHER: Frances Matilda Cooper 1865 – 1945

Married to Mary Chalmers
SON: John Thomas Ballard

Stanley Cooke Ballard, died on the 16^th of December 1982 at the Burnaby General Hospital, Burnaby, B.C. and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Burnaby.

The family immigrated from England in 1903 and the 1911 Census finds the family living at Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

SIBLINGS:  Frances Edith Ballard,  Thomas Sidney Ballard , (1890-1962), Percy Samuel Ballard,(1893-1964), Lillian Annie Ballard  "Rowland",(1897-), Norman Spencer Ballard,(1899-1966), Harold Edward Ballard,(1900-1976), Alexander Espenette Ballard,(1906-), Bessie May Ballard "McLeod",(1908-)

No. 15  Platoon

Top Row:  William John Reeves, Henry Ashley Jennings, Thomas Dickinson, Alfred Ralph Solloway,  Charlie Strand, George Royle, Albert William Buckett, Edward Lake, Isaac Simpson Robbie,  Francis James Robertson, Joseph Eugene Blais.
Second Row:  William John Theodore Ayling, Duncan Rodman, James John O'Donnell, William Ross, L. Paul,  Clarence Cecil Clarke, Sidney Cleave, Alfred Bert Mouldey, Cecil Henry Smith,  Major Forest Weeks, Robert Edward Mundon, J. Bruce.
Third Row:  Roland Roy Abbott, L.H. Wadlund, Ernest Hide, Harry Arthur Aves, John Henry McCormick, J. Reid, G.H. Nicholls, John Charles McInnes, Frank Johncock, B.L. Davis, R. Thoreson, C. Nicholls.
Fourth Row:  N.A. Craig, G. Johnson, D. McLeod, J. Clarke, J.A. Melton, J. Brown, Harold Thomas Routley,  J. Edwards, Alphonse Joseph Angelo, A. McIntyre.
Front Row: Lance-Corporal Thomas Mars, Corporal Andrew Fletcher Hill Moore,
                           Company Sergeant Major Richard Arthur Henderson, Lieutenant Ronald O'Hanley,  Company Quartermaster Sergeant L.G. Rayner, Sergeant William Thomas House, Corporal Leonard William Hookham, Drummer Stanley Cooke Ballard.