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The Great War of 1914 - 1919

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 2:32 pm 
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Not much detail from the CWGC on this fellow:

CWGC Agency wrote:
Dougal McKAY is a First World War war dead whose burial location is currently unknown. He served in the 68th Battalion. He died on 18 or 20 June 1916 and is believed to be buried in Stornoway, SK.

Attestation Paper
Born Stornway, Saskatchewan March 13, 1896, son of Angus McKay.
Attested July 24, 1915.

The 1911 Census suggest it might be Dugall MacKay.

Another casualty on that page led me to a page to search cemetery transcripts from 1850-1994:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2258205

No matter how I spell the name, it always comes back to "Baby McKay" who died in December 1916. No other MacKay or McKay listed.

There was a Dougal McKay (as compared to Dugall MacKay) in Saskatchewan (Mackenzie District) in 1911 with a father Angus but he was born in February 1897. The other Angus MacKay with son Dugall unfortunately has no birth information for the son other than that he is 13 (so born in 1898). Based on that I think we have to go with the Dougal McKay, as spelt in the CWGC note, born in February 1897. If that is him, he had 2 older brothers Malcolm (September 1894) and Samuel (December 1895).

There is a Malcolm Angus McKay #104435 born September 15, 1893. That is the correct family then as he is from Stornoway and 3 digits different. they attested together. Older brother Samuel attested March 1, 1915 #86552, same family but born in Dunleith, Saskatchewan on December 12, 1894 (so all the dates are out a year in the census).

Angus, Samuel, Malcolm and Dougal are all still listed on the 1916 Saskatchewan Census. This is an original image, so look at lines 44 to 47. Odd that it does not give the date of the census?

Where the brothers are buried we may find Dougal?

Samuel died October 13, 1915 and is in Shorncliffe Military Cemetery, UK. (CWGC Link)

It appears Malcolm survived the war, so we can look for where he was buried.

There are references to an old, overgrown cemetery in Stornoway. Another message reports there areonly 2 cemeteries in Stornoway, one Lutheran and one Scottish. All the McKay men were listed in the census documents as Presbyterians. They mention Yorkton Cemetery and Wroxton and a lady by the name of Theresa with an office in Yorkton that is "Keeper of the Records".

Ancestry member "lanton1" has a copy of all the interments in the old unmarked cemetery, mostly Scottish names (see message). That person has left an e-mail address [wanton-@-frontiernet.net], as of March 2014. I will touch base. A message has been posted.

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 4:12 pm 
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On a whim I thought I would check the Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial to see if they had Dougal McKay listed. They sure did AND they knew where he was buried:
SVWM wrote:
104438 Private (68th Battalion CEF) Dougal McKay (b.1896) of Stornoway died 19160620 and is buried at Saint-Alphonse-de-Winslow cemetery, Stornoway, Mégantic northeast of Sherbrooke, Québec. Dougal was born at Stornoway and was farming when he enlisted in the 16th Light Horse at Yorkton in 1915. There is no place or cause of death in his file. It seems likely that Dougal was inadvertently interred at Stornoway, Québec, rather than his actual home of Stornoway, Saskatchewan.


The CWGC reports two (2) WWII casualties in that cemetery but none for WWI.

I guess I should have checked the CGWP as that makes note of that as well!

I don't think this cemetery is on FIND-A-GRAVE as the three that are similar in name are at Chapeau, Granby and Thetford Mines (the closest). This is perhaps another one for member "Lorne Jr." to assist us with as this is clearly Eastern Townships.
Megantic wrote:
Stornoway, whose church steeple can be seen at the top of a hill, is well-situated at the crossroads of routes 161 and 108, a natural junction now designated a Village-Relais (designation that the town or village provides essential roadside services as well as a safe and attractive place to stop). Its name was chosen by its Scottish founders for the main town on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. Three cemeteries serve as the final resting places of the first pioneers and a monument that faces the church recalls the history of the founding families. The Catholic Church (1920) has a superb statue of Saint-Alphonse by renowned sculptor Louis Jobin. At the Summit Drive intersection, with a stunning view of the mountains and the Parc National de Frontenac nearby, there is a stop featuring information panels and an illuminated star finder, a reminder of the Mount Megantic International Dark Sky Reserve’s theme. On Route 161, along the banks of the Legendre River, a former flour mill is a tangible sign of the arrival of French Canadians. - See more at: http://www.easterntownships.org/city/30 ... zmgak.dpuf

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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:56 pm 
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I spent about three hours in the Stornoway, SK cemetery a few years back trying to locate his grave.

The town which is barely a village now, might have 10 people in it.

The cemetery is so overgrown that full grown trees have sprouted throughout the entire cemetery.

I found his parents graves, but as I recall he died Yorkton, SK and suspect that he may be buried there.

There was no headstone to speak of in Stornoway, SK


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:01 pm 
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Correct - he is in Stornoway QUEBEC not Stornoway SASKATCHEWAN.

They buried him in the wrong cemetery. Strange but true!

Message sent to Lorne Jr. in the Eastern Townships for assistance on our 2 in that area.

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 6:20 pm 
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That is mind boggling! :shock:

If anyone remembers a former Prime Minister by the name of Mulroney :wink: , he held some meetings in Stornoway. I'm not sure if he had a family cottage in the area. It's a very rugged, beautiful area of Quebec.


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 11:20 pm 
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Let us not forget Stornoway is also the name of the official residence in Ottawa of the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in Canada.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 12:44 pm 
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Here is his memorial page but we still have to find the grave site in the Saint-Alphonse-de-Winslow Cemetery:

http://svwm.ca/casualty-display/?ID=A000003934

As best as I can tell, that cemetery is not on this list at Find-A-Grave:

St. Alphonse Named Cemeteries

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