So far, the marriage between this particular William Henry Knibbs and Adeles Ladoucer is a conjecture. Still trying to prove conclusively that it was indeed this William Henry.

I'm told by his granddaughter Pearl that William Henry was born in Radway, England which I believe is in Warwickshire today but I think it was on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. His birth certificate actually says "Radway, in the Sub-district of Swalcliffe, in the Counties of Oxford and Warwick". His parents were William Knibb and Elizabeth Richards.
On William's statement of Marriage Particulars form, it says he is from Warwickshire, England and his father's occupation was given as Dealer in Cattle.

William's mum died dad died when he was about 10 months old, and his dad when he was about 13. His His dad remarried when William was about 8 years old so for several years after his dad died, we he probably continued to live with his step-mother and stepsisters for a while. We know he was woith them in 1861 (aged 11) but after that, we lose track of him up until 1881 when he appears at Portage, Marquette, Manitoba, Canada.
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William is buried at St. Peters Anglican Cemetery, Lesser Slave Lake, AB.
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We see William in 1861 living at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire with his dad , step-mother, three step-sisters and child who I assume is from one his step-sisters.
William Knibb Head Mar 59 Inkeeper Warwickshire Knightcote
Ann Knibb Wife Mar 49 Inkeepers Wife Warwickshire Avon Bassett
Jemima Chater Dau Un 20 Warwickshire Fenny Compton
Sarah Chater Dau Un 18 Warwickshire Fenny Compton
Mary Ann Chater Dau 12 Warwickshire Fenny Combton
William Knibb Son 10 Warwickshire Radway
Hannah Archer Grandaughter 3 Northamptonshire Upper Boding
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We can see William in the 1881 census living in an hotel at Portage, Marquette, Manitoba, Canada:
William KNIBB Male English 24 Birthplace England Agent, Religion c of E
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We can see William in the 1906 census living in the Alberta North District:
Knebbs William H. Head 56
Knebbs Deal Wife 23
Knebbs Hary Son 9
Knebbs Space Daughter 8
Knebbs Fred Son 5
Knebbs George Son 4
Knebbs Frank Son 1 mo
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We can see William and Adeles inthe 1911 Cencus of Canada, living at Township 71, in the district of Edmonton, Alberta.
Knibb Wm HK M Head M Jun 1850 61
Knibb Adele F Wife M Jan 1876 34
Knibb Harry M Son S May 1897 14
Knibb Fred M Son S Jun 1900 11
Knibb George M Son S Dec 1903 8
Knibb Edward M Son S Jul 1906 4
Knibb Charles M Son S Jan 1908 3
Knibb William M Son S Jan 1910 1
Knibb Grace F Daughter S Sep 1898 12
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William worked as a Fur Buyer for the Hudson Bay Company.

Adeles was Métis which is mixed blood, French and Native.
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Adeles family can be seen in the 1881 census for Canada, living at Battleford, in the Northwest Territories. The daughter "Andail" listed in the census is most probably Adeles:
Adam LADOUCEUR M Male French 37 Northwest Territories Farmer Roman Catholic
Margaret LADOUCEUR M Female French 27 Manitoba Roman Catholic
Mary Margaret LADOUCEUR Female French 6 Northwest Territories Roman Catholic
Andail LADOUCEUR Female French 4 Northwest Territories Roman Catholic
Sophia LADOUCEUR Female French 3 Northwest Territories Roman Catholic
Elisabeth LADOUCEUR Female French 1 Born: Nov; 5/12 Northwest Territories Roman Catholic

The above was taken from the 1881 census. I've also learned from a direct descendant of Adeles' brother Zacharie, that there were at least two other children. Adeles had another sister named Madeleine whose married name was "Taylor", and a brother, Zacharie.
We can see from the 1901 census that Zacharie was born in 1897 and he's listed at Zacharias.
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We can also see Adeles parents in the 1901 census returns:
Adam Ladouceur,The Territories, Alberta, born 1843
Margaret Ladouceur , The Territories, Alberta, born 1857

Adeles' mother's maiden name was DESMARAIS
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Although Adeles was widowed at a fairly young age, it is understood that she didn't remarry.
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Adeles is believed to have been buried in St. Bernard RC cemetery, Grouard (near High Prairie), Alberta, Canada

(Click image for a larger version).

Attestation Paper 194th O Bn signed on 3 Jun 1916
Harry KNIBB living at Grouard, Alta
Born at Fort Vermillion, Alta on 18 May 1897
Unmarried. Next of Kin Father, Mr H KNIBB of Grouard, Alta
Occupation Teamster
Religion Church of England
Harry was 5' 6.5" tall with a 34" chest when fully expanded (with 1"
expansion). He had a Medium complexion, Hazel eyes and Dark Brown hair. No
distinguishing marks identified.

Sadly, it can be seen that Harry died at war in France, just one year after joining the army.
In Memory of:
Private HARRY KNIBB
905089, 49th Bn., Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regt.)
who died age 19
on Saturday 9 June 1917.
Private KNIBB, Son of Adele Knibbs, of Grouard, Alberta, and the late William H. Knibbs.

Remembered with Honour
VIMY MEMORIAL
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In April, 2009, the Legions in Alberta commemorated the veterans who died while serving during WW1 ,WW2, Korean War and UN Peace Keeping Missions. Part of their presentation was a memorial print in remembrance of Harry Knibb which showed a photograph of Harry, a war photo pertaining to battle at Vimy Ridge, and the words:
Harry Knibb of Grouard, Alberta, served with the Alberta Regiment, 49th Battalion as a Private during the First World War. The 49th Battalion was part of a night raid on the German front on 8-9 June 1917. Thirty-eight members of the 49th were casualties during the raids, of these 16 were missing and presumed dead. Harry was killed in action on 9 June 1917, he has no known grave, his name is inscribed on the Vimy Memorial. Canada's most impressive tribute overseas to those Canadians who fought and gave their lives in the First World War is the majestic and inspiring Vimy Memorial which overlooks the Douai Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge. Inscribed on the ramparts of the Memorial are the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who have no know grave. Harry Knibbs was the son of William and Adele Knibb; he was 19 years old.

Harry was one of those 16 missing soldiers.

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In 2006, I was contacted by a lady from the Department of Anthropology at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario. The department is currently contracted by the Canadian military to identify the remains of Canadian WW1 soldiers that are recovered from Europe. These remains are usually recovered as a salvage operation when construction work is undertaken throughout Europe. For now it is just Canadian
remains that they work with but they are hoping to expand this work to all commonwealth countries or even all allied countries.

The most recent case they are working on is the remains of two soldiers who were recovered near Avion France. These soldiers most likely died in the battle of Vimy Ridge. They have identified the unit these men fought with occupied that location on the 9th of June 1917. There were 16 Canadian soldiers unaccounted for on this day of fighting and they are working to identify relatives for each of these soldiers and perform a forensic DNA test to identify them. There is a Harry Knibb who was one of these soldiers. The unversity has been collecting data so that they may identify or confirm the living relatives of these soldiers.

Once an identification is made these soldiers will be buried in the appropriate commonwealth war graves cemetary in Europe and the objective is to have an identity for these soldiers before they are buried. The burial date for these two soldiers is April the 7th, 2007. Harry Knibb is one of the potentail identities of one of these two soldiers.

With much help from current family members, we (the Knibb/Knibbs family) have been able to help the projecy by identifying a suitable mtDNA donor who has provided a sample of his own DNA so that it can be compared with that from each of the soldiers. Arthur Knibb provided a sample of his own DNA in about May 2006. Arthur is the youngest son of Charles Knibb who was one of Harry's brothers,
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Sadly, the remains identified above were not the remains of Harry, but it was still pleasing to become involved in helping to identify just who those two soldiers were, so great thanks to Pearl and Arthur, niece and nephew of Harry.

Sunday, March 25, 2007:

Thanks to DNA technology, a Canadian soldier killed at Vimy Ridge has been identified ninety years later. Private Herbert Peterson, a 22-year-old soldier from rural Alberta never returned from the French battlefields of the First World War. His parents and five brothers were left in the dark about his fate until his body was found three years ago and finally identified earlier this year by a team of Canadian scientists, historians and officials.

The investigation leading to this discovery took three years, involving genealogical and anthropological research and DNA testing. Peterson’s remains were found entwined with those of another Canadian soldier by French construction workers building a gas pipeline near Avion, in October, 2003. Pieces of his uniform, a cap badge and ammunition helped investigators connect the soldiers to the 49th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. Due to the location of the bodies, it was determined that both had died on June 8 or 9, 1917, fighting a night raid against the Germans, two months after the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge.

A forensic reconstruction of their deaths concludes that Peterson was seriously injured and scooped up by the unidentified soldier who walked them towards Canadian lines when both were killed by a shell. Forensic analysis of the soldiers’ teeth narrowed the search down to five possible names and it was ultimately a DNA sample given by Peteron’s nephew and namesake Herbert Peterson, that led to confirmation of the soldier’s identity, much to his family’s happy surprise.

Private Herbert Peterson’s name will be taken off the missing at Vimy memorial and he will be given a proper full military funeral on April 7 at the La Chaudière Military Cemetery, during the ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Vimy Ridge is considered one of Canada's greatest military victories, in which the Canadian troops launched a night attack on German trenches near Arras, France, relieving the city from immediate threat of attack and giving the Allied Forces their first victory against the Germans in a year and a half.

It is believed that Frank owned a store in Loon Lake, Alberta, Canada.
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His year of birth is an estimate, based on information given to me by Pete Ladouceur, the grand-nephew of Adeles. Pete tells me that when he attended Grouard vocational school in 1965, he resided with Frank Knibbs. he remembers that Frank would have been about 65 years old at that time.
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Beverly Knibb, the granddaughter of Frank's brother Lou Knibbs tells me that she used to visit Frank Knibbs when she was a child. He lived next door to his brother Lou. Beverly remembers him being a rancher and that they would play in his haystacks on the ranch. He eventually sold all his cows and opened the store next to his house.

Frank and Lou used to go fishing together every year.

Fred is buried at St. Peters Cemetery, Big Prairie, Alberta. Big Prairie is now called Prairie Echo. It's a farming community about 8 miles NE of High Prairie. The family story is that Fred was actually shot by a jealous husband.

Lee is buried at St. Peters Cemetery, Big Prairie, Alberta. Big Prairie is now called Prairie Echo. It's a farming community about 8 miles NE of High Prairie

Albina died at the age of just 10 days.

She came to light as the result of a project being implemented by the people of Grouard to commission a memorial to all the people who are buried at the Gruard Cemetery from the very beginning, right through to Dec 1999. Amongst the cemtery records was the name "Albina NEAPS" listed as the daughter of "Belly KNIBB and Adele LADOUCEUR".