There’s no doubt in my mind that a “Pennimanite” left behind a personal reminiscence or journal or unpublished manuscript or something, telling about his war-time experiences at Penniman, Virginia.
The problem is finding these people, and then finding their descendants, and then finding a written record.
Thus far, I’ve had three good breaks, where wonderful vintage photographs of Penniman have come into my possession. Two of those good breaks came from people with relatives connected to Penniman. The third event was a fellow who purchased a vintage photo album from eBay, and later found me (and this website).
Below, I’ve listed the names I’ve found thus far in the hopes that we might find these folks, and perhaps find a personal reminiscence of a Pennimanite.
Within the tags (at the bottom of this blog) are more names.
To read about the soldiers at “Camp Penniman” click here.
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Allshouse, Atkinson, Austin, Barnett, Bell, Benesh, Browne, Byrne, Casey, Cavanaugh, Cheep, Curry, Davidson, Davis, Doubille, Dunsworth, Fitzgerald, Gaugler, Gluss, Gohegan, Goodrich, Hazlehurst, Hess, Hoke, Huger, Huntley, Jenson, Krebbs, Loughborough, Luderlow, Ludqig, Marable, McCourt, McLelland, McMannus, Miller, Moser, Newcomb, O’briean, Odem, Osiff, Parkus, Pennee, Peters, Plumer, Rhodes, Shevlin, Stowe, Stumzi, Sykes, Tragsdorf, Trask, Van Dyke, Wadsworth, Walbauer, Walton (Benjamin Franklin Walton, from Hanover County), Wellford.
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Thanks to the "Penniman Projectile" (December 1918), we now have several names of the people at Penniman, including the members of the Penniman Baseball team!
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After spending more than six years studying Penniman, it's a delight to have faces for the "names" and it will be even more delightful to find some of the families of these men.
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According to the Penniman Projectile, these were "prominent men" at Penniman.
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Mr. Benesh was the superintendent of the plant. After the war, DuPont sent him to China.
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Will we ever know the names of these many children at Penniman? And an aside, the sign overhead says "Girls' Industrial War Service Club." None of these children would be alive today, unless they lived well beyond 100 years old.
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Ora C. Huston was the lead pastor at Penniman, and he and his wife ministered to Penniman's sick and dying, throughout the flu epidemic. Did he leave behind a published account?
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Did Major Gaugler leave behind a memoir of his time at Penniman?
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To read about the soldiers at “Camp Penniman” click here.
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I know just a few of those names, but, unfortunately, all contacts are either deceased or lost.
As for Van Dyke, why not post something on Dick Van Dyke’s Facebook?
I did look up Allshouse to see if my transporter to church during college was still around, but she passed at age 93 in 2006. There are Allshouses in Virginia, though.