Map of the Week: Riverdale's First World War dead

Updated Nov. 10 - see note below.

Maps:

Small (1000x540)

Medium (1200x800)

Large (1600x900)

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This week's map is an exercise in recovering lost urban memory.

I have identified almost 200 individual homes in Riverdale and the neighbourhood immediately north of the Danforth where the worst fears of the householder -­ wife, parent or sibling of a Canadian soldier overseas during the First World War - were realized a boy came to their front step with a dreaded telegram, instead of the man whose return they hoped for. For some, the news was final; for others, a long hospital vigil ended when a young man lost a painful struggle with the damage from shrapnel or gas.

The map gives an idea of the extent of cultural trauma which led to the Remembrance Day rituals, by looking at how the war scarred one neighbourhood. A large-scale disaster can sometimes seem incomprehensible; it is often only by looking at particular cases that we start to grasp a sense of what happened.

The war harrowed Riverdale on a mercilessly intimate scale:

In a row of five houses near Fulton and Carlaw, three lost sons in a six-week period in 1918 near Arras.

One-block Fenwick Avenue lost four men, as did one-block Garnock Avenue and one-block Wardell St.

One long block of Eaton Ave., east of Pape, lost six.

It is possible to stand at the corner of Garnock and Hampton and see five houses, including two pairs of next-door neighbours, who lost a son or husband.

Two homes, one on Riverdale Ave. and one on Hogarth, lost two sons. In the Riverdale Ave. case, one of them lied about his age to enlist.

For every actual death, there were many more families which lived with their dread, silently or otherwise. What it was like to live in the neighbourhood by the fall of 1918 is hard to imagine at this point; our only really good tool would be fiction.

The map was prepared from the excellent database at the Canadian Great War Project site. The search process was very cumbersome, and it wasn't possible to search for soldiers from First Ave., south of Gerrard between Logan and Broadview, or Strathcona Ave., off Pape south of the Danforth. 

I have added several streets north of Riverdale’s traditional boundary at the Danforth.

Every marker links to up to three documents: the Commonwealth War Graves Commission page for the soldier, the Department of Veterans Affairs page, which often links to other resources such as press clippings, and images of the soldier's attestation papers, prepared when he enlisted. Not all markers have all three links. The address on attestation papers is not always the address of next of kin at death, which is what the map is based on.

If you live in Riverdale and the area a few blocks north of the Danforth (pictured at left), you may want to consider the following:

The older a house is, the more of the texture of everyday life has flowed through it - birth, death, joy, tragedy. Some people who live in old houses enjoy the traces of people who lived there before, like coal grates and worn floorboards, and others carefully erase them all.

It’s rooted in personal things: our attitude to home, history and culture play a part.

A home pinpointed on the map may be where you now live. Whether you want to know this is for you to decide.

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Update, November 10:

Thanks to commenter John McLean for pointing out two soldiers from Eastmount Ave., north of the Danforth, who belonged on the map – when I looked into it more closely, I ended up adding four from Eastmount and three from Muriel Ave., near Pape and Danforth.

I’d place Private Russell Devall (http://ow.ly/B7Ni) on the on the map if I had a street address – we know his parents lived on Muriel, but not exactly where. His attestation papers aren’t on line.

Comments

[Andrew]

Wow, this really puts things into perspective.

I am in a small Riverside rowhouse adjacent to a home that lost a 19-year-old son. I can hear through the walls, and can only imagine the sorrow that would have come on a September day in 1918.

Lest We Forget.

This year I will be remembering Lt. Boyes and MCpl. Roberts, whom I had the honour to serve with. They shall not grow old.

[Nell]

The Virtual War Memorial project run by Veterans' Affairs does not "link" to the public donations of images - it displays them. And allows the addition of new information by the public, which the CWGC graves registry is not designed to do. Too many of these 'Identity' files have no public input yet, even those of the fallen of Afganistan who still have parents and sibling to post typical images from civilian lives, (not just their brief fatal time in uniform.)What VAC's project does not do for practical reasons, is to post links on a person's file. There's a huge sidebar of links on the wider website but its of little use in an identity search. Nor the old vets' memories usually relevant - their long-dead chums not even named.

[John McLean]

What a timely and wonderful bit of research. You are to be congratulated for your efforts. I might just mention that there are two Riverdale soldiers missing: David McLean (my grandfather) who was killed on April 20th, 1917 and T. P. Grant who was killed in August, 1917. Both lived on Eastmount Ave, both born in Scotland and both joined the 48th Highlanders at the same time in January, 1916.

[C. Butters]

I'm very pleased to see someone put the effort into a project like this. Imagine if we could get the entire city?

I researched my neighbourhood a bit (Roncesvalles) and found out the people next door to me lost a son in March of 1916 (with the Corps Railway Troops). It definately brings the legacy of the Great War home. My house lost a nephew, 75th Bn. DOW after fighting for Desire Trench, November 1916.

[Nell]

McLEAN and GRANT of the 48th Highlanders each have Virtual War Memorial identity files. To each someone unnamed has submitted a contemporaty newpaper clipping with head shots of both. A group(location not given) called 'Operation Picture Me' has found a full-length photo of McLEAN. -- The VWM files of the Railway Troops Corp. could be looked up too as can the soldier in the 75th Battalion (commemorated today as the Toronto Scottish ("The Queen Mum's Own"). Except that the poster did not give their names. All files would be enhanced by copying their CEF Attestation documents images from Library Archives Canada
website which will provide place of birth, next of kin at that time, occupation etc. The Star mapmaker is doing an imaginative job, but it is up to the public to check files
and contribute as possible. If kin, interesting to have the Cutline text signed, with relationship. You can skip the CWGC-wide database - Vets Affairs people picked out the Canadian ones 10 years to create our unique modern, online-only, interactive memorial resource.

[Carl Sjalund]

I grew up on Gerrard & Jarvis Avenues not far from where you map shows so many who lost their lives. I am astonished. My dad never in his life breathed a word about this. He probably didn't know.

I do not live in Toronto but always return to the maps and news of Toronto. It is where I was born and lived until 15 years old. Lest I myself never forget.

And yes, I am a veteran.

[David]

William Antil Richards, age 23, who died on January 13, 1916, had lived at 419 Pape Avenue.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/content/collections/virtualmem/photoview.cfm?casualty=443433&photo=20077

[Warren Viegas]

I am an immigrant that arrived in Canada in 1976. I came from East Africa, and as fate has it, I know no-one in my family that died in either WWI or WWII. I studied Canadian History in high school and university and am proud of my country. I am also appreciative of those brave men and women who gave their lives to make Canada what it is today. Unfortunately, when I look around me, I do not think this shared by that many other than by those who did lose a family member or friend. If they do, it is only because this day is the reminder. I do not see many of today's immigrants who have the same values as those that did to die for their country to make this country today for others to inhabit it. We should be thankful every day for those sacrifices, buy a vet a coffee, listen to a story or two. Unfortunately, nature being what it is, we are losing those who did serve in the Great Wars, or even the Korean War and current conflict.
I took some this past summer to visit Vimy, Beaument Hamel (Newf memorial) and about 25 other cemeteries to pay respects to those that rest in peace. Canadians, French, British, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians, South Africans and other Commonwealth countries.I also visited the German memorials - they were people too - who didn't have necessarily a choice to make. Sadly, many of them who have left a legacy, do not have material legacy in that they did not have children, many having died so young, to have a family member to come and visit them and thank them for their sacrifice. I spent 3 days on my own trying to do my part and will always try and make that voyage from here on in to do more. As Canadians, we need to do more to have our children appreciate this and our government spend some money to allow them to do so. As citizens, we should support our government to allow Canadians to appreciate those sacrifices. Anything but would be selling short those that died.

[Helder Chita]

God Bless Every Canadian Soldier. For without Them our great nation of the north would not enjoy the soverneity we so easily take for granted.

[Richard Laughton]

Private Russell Devall's "Attestation Papers" are here: (799545)

http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gpc002/289504a.gif

http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gpc002/289504b.gif

The 184th Battalion was absorbed by the 11th Reserve Battalion to provide for reinforcements in the field.

If you have ordered his service record, please let us know and we can pinpoint where he was when he met his final fate and how.

[pcain]

David -

Thank you for Richards, who has been added to the map.

Richard Laughton -

The reference I'm chasing for Devall is his parents' street address at the time of his death, which was on Muriel Ave., north of the Danforth. A contemporary street directory would probably have it.

[Anna]

Toronto City Directories for that time period are available at www.archive.org.

[pcain]

Thanks, Anna -

I don't see a Devall on Muriel ('Murial' seems to be the contemporary spelling) in 1917 or 1918.