Fayette County, West Virginia          Biography of William Harvey PENNINGTON

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Subject: William Harvey Pennington

When the responsibilites of the man of the house fall on the shoulders of a
nine-year-old boy, marriage and a family may not seem so appealing when he
becomes a young man. William H. Pennington, 81 years old, of Parsons was
nearly fifty years old before he settled down.
Two sons and four daughters were born to the late George Washington ("Wash")
and Mary White Pennington, but William and three of his sisters were the only
living children at the time of their father's accident in 1900. He was
employed at a lumber company in Hulings, the community now known as Hambleton.
Apparently it was the fire reported in the September 6, 1900, issue of The
Parsonss Advocate:
"The Otter Creek Boom and Lumber Company's big mill at Hambleton and ten
million feet of lumber in their yards were destroyed by fire last Saturday,
September 1. A full force was not working, only the planers were running and
one boiler fired." According to Homer Fansler's History of Tucker County, the
mill was "...the largest and finest of its kind in West Virginia.
Mr. Pennington was caught hen a brick wall fell on him. He was bedfast for a
long period of time and was never able to walk again without the help of a
crutch or cane.
With the help of the neighbors in the village of Bretz, young Bill was able
to continue school most of the time, but after he returned home it was his
job to tend the horses, cows and hogs and chop the wood for the "Indianola
wood stove" his mother kept in the kitchen.
"I despised division," he admitted, but otherwise enjoyed going to school and
is grateful to the neighbors who cut the lumber and hauled it to the house
for him. He finished about 8 years of school at Bretz.
Two of the Pennington children, George and Cleana, died in infance. Other
sisters included Mrs. Carrie Wilson of Fork Mountain, near Parsons; Mrs.
Flossie McDaniel of Clarksburg; and Miss Stella Pennington, deceased.
Training in the army was uncomplicated in 1917. It took only three weeks of
preparation at Fort Lee, Virginia, to teach men how to fight in France. The
soldiers were taken from Fort Lee, down the James River to Newport News,
Virginia, where they boarded a boat built in Italy to transport animals. Mr.
Pennington is of the opinion that the meat they served "slumgullion," may
also have been originally for those same animals!
The sixteen-day journey was nearly complete when, on a beautiful Sunday
morning as the soldiers where getting ready for Sunday school. Mr. Pennington
strolled out onto the deck. He was standing with one hand resting on a gun
when suddenly a scope appeard a few inches out of the water, shortly ahead of
their boat.
The force of the swinging gun, which sent three-inch bullets to clip off the
scope, sent Mr. Pennington flying along the deck floor.
"We looked like a moving city," he said as he described teh eighteen
passenger boats, sixteen submarines which circled them constantly, and the
two battleships and one special boat hired to transport Red Cross nurses. The
fleet of boats stopped for about an hour, until the water turned green with
oil, before resuming their journey into the Biscay Bay.
Mr. Pennington spent eighteen months in France with the 42nd Division.
Although he saw action, he was never involved in hand-to-hand combat. He was
stationed for a time near Metz, Germany, where he met a young girl in a
restaurant who latermarried an American and upon arriving at a relative's
home, recognized Mr. Pennington's photo hanging on the wall.
One photo he has shows the men on parade shortly after the armistice was
instituted under the capable hands of General John Joseph Pershing. "Ever see
him? I'll say! Those little black beady eyes could look right through you!"
After returning to his home in Bretz, Mr. Pennington went to work making
mortar for Bil Swartz. After two years he tld Mr. Swartz he was ready to get
"on the wall" and was made an apprentice until he joined a bricklayer's union.
Hardly a street in Parsons or Elkins does not have a home or business office
which Mr. Pennington helped build. He served as foreman during the building
of Parson High School and helped build the IOOF Hall; in Elkins he worked on
the Montgomery Ward and A&P Store and the class buildings at Davis and Elkins
College. "I helped build practically all of Elkins!' he said proudly.
The largest building he ever worked on was the Chrysler Building in New York
City. He spent the summers of 1927 and 1928 there while the "straw bosses
yelled at us from morning to night."
He'd forgotten to ask what his salary woud be and when he opened his first
pay envelope and discovered $88.00 for the 42 hour week, he decided he could
take all the yelling the straw bosses could dish out.
The second summer he was joined in New York City by his teacher, Bill Swartz,
whose fortune didn'tcome as easily as Mr. Pennington's. As he and his fellow
workers on the Coney Island job were waiting to be paid, armed thugs walked
off with the envelopes of cash.
Mr. Pennington remained in the city until the Chrysler Building was "topped
out." He liked working there, it was a haven of steel skeltons up and down
both sides of the streets waiting to be bricked, but it was less expensive to
live at home and he did not return there the next summer.
He was living in the city at tiem Charles A. Lindbergh left there, May 20,
1927, accomplishing the first transatlantic nonstop flightin history from New
York to Paris. The parade, on Lindbergh's return, was a disappointment to Mr.
Pennington as the crowds were so dense it was impossible to get even a
glimpse of the famous airman.
Mr. Pennington has flown in airplanes and helicopters serveral times while
working for Richard (Dick) Benson in Elkins. He isn't overly enthusiastic
about them.
William H. Pennington and Miss Lillian Currence were married in Oakland,
Maryland, in 1948. They made their home in the house where she was born on
Central Avenue in Parsons. Mrs. Pennington died in December of 1967.
Although they never had any children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Pennington
helped raise their niece, Lewana Logan. She was brought to their home as a
two-week-old infant and remained with them until she had completed the second
grade.
Now Mrs. Lewana Bohon, she is a nurse and resides in Baltimore. Mr.
Pennington admits he may be prejudiced, but says that Lewana's two daughters,
Suzi and Stephanie, are "Two of the cutest girls I've ever seen."
A recent eighteen-day stay in the hospital put an end to Mr. Pennington's
annual trips into the woods. He was an avid hunter for many years. About ten
years ago he leased a camp at Canaan Valley where he and several of his
friends would stay during hunting season. His doctor advised him to stay out
of the woods, and although the thought of joining his nephew was tempting, he
stayed at home. The nephew returned to Clarksburg without a deer and Mr.
Pennington told me confidently that if he'd been up on Backbone Mountain with
him they would have seen one!
It is difficult to imagine a man living alone in the neat home on Central
Avenue. Not only are the lawn and flower bed tidy and clean, the inside too
is well cared for. When I asked if he did all his own housework, he chuckled
and said he just waits until he's used up all the dishes then calls in
someone to clean.
Mr. Pennington is downtown often, visiting friends. He enjoys reading and
television and each Thursday evening attends meetings of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.---December 7, 1972, by Mariwyn McClain Smith

From the book: ...and live forever A Compilation fo Senior Citizens Articles
by Mariwyn McClain Smith
pages 384-388