Tag / Renfrew

by ottawafamilytree

The Frood family and the 100th Anniversary of World War I

As the commemorations of World War I approach, I think about the family members who lost their lives in the Great War. Many, many of my ancestors were among the 690,000 soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (CEF); a number were among the 67,000 killed and 173,000 wounded — almost 39% of those mobilised.

I was particularly touched by the story of Peter Frood (1865-1934), his wife Naomi McEwen (1857-1950), and their family. Peter was my great grandmother Barbara Watt Frood’s brother, my great grand uncle.

Even before the War, they had seen tragedy. In 1912, their daughter Iva Ray, a school teacher, had committed suicide.

cbfroodIt is hard to fathom their sorrow when, in 1915, they learned that their son Lorne Vine Frood, of H Company, CEF, died in the trenches somewhere near St. Julien, France. It was soon to be compounded, when news reached them in 1916 of the death, at age 19, of (Clarence) Boyd Frood, 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF, near Mount Sorrel, France.

Their bodies were never recovered, but they are remembered in the ceremony that takes place daily at 8pm, at the Memorial at the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium, where their names are inscribed. Sons of Renfrew, their names are also inscribed on the cenotaph outside town hall in Renfrew.

One of the plans to commemorate those who died in the Great War is to nightly project the names onto the War Memorials in Ottawa and several other cities across Canada.

In the run up to the celebrations of the 100th anniversary, many are reflecting on the meaning of the Great War. I find it hard to think about 10 million soldiers’ and 6 million civilian deaths.

Seeing it one family at a time begins to give some sense of the devastation that took place on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

by ottawafamilytree

WWI Renfrew Area Soldiers’ Records

Renfrew World War I Cenotaph, in front of the City Hall in dowtown Renfrew ON

Renfrew World War I Cenotaph, in front of the City Hall in dowtown Renfrew ON

During the summer of 1996, students from the Renfrew area digitized over 50,000 pages of Attestation papers at the Library and Archives Canada building in Renfrew, ON, as a tribute to the many residents from the town of Renfrew who enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Many lost their lives during the war.

This project was part of the SchoolNet Digital Collections Program supported by Industry Canada and the Library and Archives Canada and included both the Attestation papers of the soldiers and — in many cases their full military file.

To check the list of soldiers included, visit the CEF site at Library and Archives Canada.

by ottawafamilytree

The Watt Family from Renfrew

An email from Myrna in Idaho about the Watt family has put me back on the trail of the relatives of Barbara Watt, my 3x great grandmother. She married into the Frood family, also from the Renfrew area.

A great source for Renfrew area family history is a small two volume work (published together in a single volume) The story of Renfrew: from the coming of the first settlers about 1820 (published in 1919). It’s easily available, thanks to the website archive.org and can be downloaded in a variety of formats, including PDF.

Thanks to archive.org and other sites, many local histories are readily accessible. A quick search with the terms “history” and the town or area can often times bring rich rewards. It’s how I came upon the Arnprior & McNab Braeside archives. You can search items from their collection, not just books but photos as well. I found a number of Frood family pictures online. Their photos include those of a local photography studio going back to the early days of Renfrew.