Tucker County, West Virginia Biography of Sullivan Garfield PENNINGTON This file was submitted by DBri185263@aol.com, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm Subject: Sullivan Garfield Pennington A World War I veteran, an adventurer, and a member of one of Tucker County's first families, Sullivan Garfield Pennington of Hendricks, 82 years old, has lived a full and active life. Born in Bretz to Jesse and Mary Jane Elza Pennington, who lived most of their lives in Bretz and on Shavers Fork, was one of six children. A typhoid epidemic in the late 1800's claimed the lives of the two daughters, Ella and Miama Jane and two of the four sons, Vincent and Henry. The only other surviving brother is James Corbett Pennington, who makes his home in Philbert, near Fairbank, Pennsylvania. Pennington is married to the former Ethel Seese. There are two stepsons, Lawrence Bates of Hendricks and James Davis of Saint George; two stepdaughters are deceased. There are nine grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. Other relatives include two nieces and a nephew, Carrie Wilson of Fork Mountain, Flossie McDaniel of Bretz and Bill Pennington of Parsons. During the late 1800's Mr Pennington remembers members of the Simmons, Long, and Blackman families who lived in the Bretz and Blackman Flats areas. His anceestors are among those listed in the 1860 census. His parents lived first at Bretz, and later moved to a farm at Pettit on the Shavers Fork River. While living on the farm at Pettit, he can remember a flood in 1907 when an acre of potatoes was wash away. Four Feet of water covered the town of Parsons, according to Mr. Pennington, and a boat had to be taken into the courthouse. He is a veteran of World War I, having served in France during the years of 1917 to 1919. Mr. Pennington told of the experiences he had as a young man. Being adventuresome, he once traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio. When he decided to come home he started out walking and "bumming" freight trains. After fourteen days in which he had very little to eat, he arrived at a logging camp on Cheat Mountain. the late Roy Griffith of Hambleton was cook at the camp and when he saw Pennington's condition and learned how long it had been since he had eaten, he said that it would never do to let him eat at the table, because he would literally eat himself to death. He put Pennington in a room and carried him a small amount of food at a time until he was able to come to the dining room to eat. Another time Mr. Pennington traveled to Salt Lake City, where he played profesional baseball with the Mammoth Bush League, and again walked and caught freight trains back home ot Parsons. The teams were called the Independents, for which he played, the Mollygrubs and the Businessmen. He has worked in a tannery and in the mines. He had many close calls while working in the woods and logging camps of Grant Dickson. Once a treetop fell on him and broke a crosscut say, which he was carrying on his back into three pieces, without injuring him. He can remember a wreck on the Otter Creek Boom and Lumber Company line near the mouth of Little Yellow Creek when six carloads of logs and the engine left the track and again no one was injured. When asked about the conditions of the world today, Mr. Pennington commented that he thought most of the problems stemmed from the fast pace of living. He feels that all too often the mother goes out to work and leaves her children to roam the streets, or pushes them out on the streets to play at an early age. When he was young, parents were more strict, but, he added, usually if was for the good. He can remember once when he begged to go out on Halloween night, but his fater wouldn't allow him to go. That night half a mile of a neighbor's fence was cut down and he was blamed. Had he gone that night he would not have been able to prove his innoncence. He says hat he doesn't know what is in store due to the high cost of living, but feels hat something must change soon. He recalls when flour was thirty-three cents a bag, salt side or salt bacon, three cents per pound, coffee, eight to ten cents a pound, and beans couldn't be given away! Boarding house rates ran about three dollars a week. Mr. Pennington spends much of his time, his wife jokingly informed the reporter, sleeping, relaxing at his home, watching television and raising one of the nicest gardens in Hendricks.---May 13. 1971 by Cleta Long. From the book: ...and live forever A Compilation of Senior Citizen Articles from the Parsons Advocate by Mariwyn McClain Smith pages 165-167