LEST WE FORGET 75 ASHWORTH, Joseph “Joe” WWI Joe was born on September 12, 1888, in Townsend Fold, England to Joe and Elizabeth Ann (Ormrod) Ashworth. He came west from Ontario on a harvest excursion to Rocanville, Saskatchewan in 1910. He enlisted in the Army on January 1, 1915, with the 3rd Division Cavalry Squad and was sent overseas on April 3, 1916. He served thirteen months in Canada, eight months in England and 31 months in France. Trooper Ashworth was wounded on November 15, 1917, with a gunshot wound to the chest and shrapnel wound to his finger. He was transferred to Epsom Convalescent Hospital on December 11, 1917. He was discharged from service on June 2, 1919. Joe and two of his brothers purchased a farm and their mother was the housekeeper. In 1928, Joe and brothers Wilf and Harry went by train to Grimshaw, Alberta where Joe filed for homesteads in the Deadwood, Alberta area. The brothers combined resources and bought equipment to prepare their land for productive farming. They worked together through the 1930’s and early 1940’s. Joe married Eleanor Mable (Eggenberger) Christensen before 1932 and they raised four children, Dorothy, Vivian, Kenneth, and Rosamond. Joe drove trucks for a time and in 1949, he and his family moved to Edmonton. The couple later lived on the west coast to be close to his brothers but moved back to Calgary when Eleanor was in poor health. Joe died on January 1, 1989, in Deadwood, Alberta, at the age of 100. ASHWORTH, Wilfred “Wilf” WWI Wilf was born on August 7, 1886, in Townsend Fold, Lancashire, England to Joe and Elizabeth Ann (Ormrod) Ashworth. He enlisted in the Army in Moosomin on January 1, 1915, at the age of eighteen. Trooper Ashworth served with the 16th Light Horse, 10th Regiment Canadian Mounted Rifles and 3rd Division Cavalry Squad. He was in France for over two years and was discharged on January 7, 1919. Wilf was an avid football player and was hospitalized several times while overseas due to a recurring right knee injury. On August 26, 1917, he fractured a rib, so he was transferred from the cavalry. He was discharged on January 7, 1919, and was entitled to wear three blue chevrons for three years of overseas service. He joined the Great War Veterans Association in Rocanville on March 9, 1920. In 1928, Wilf and his brothers, Joe and Harry, travelled to Alberta to take out homesteads. They farmed together and during harvests, Wilf ran the binder and Harry and Joe did the stooking. Wilf passed away on May 27, 1949, in Berwyn, Alberta. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Peace River, Alberta.
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