Wm. Clinton Pennywitt
Wm. Clinton Pennywitt, the eldest son of John Pennywitt, was born on the bank of the Ohio River opposite the head of Manchester Island, July 11, 1839. (He has recently adopted the spelling of the family name here given, having been convinced that such was the original and proper method.) He received all his schooling in a log schoolhouse on the old homestead near the present site of Quinn Chapel. At the age of eighteen, he began teaching in the Public schools. At twenty-one, he "went West." When Fort Sumpter was fired upon and President Lincoln made his first call for defenders of the flag, he was one of the first to respond. He enlisted in April, 1861, at Newton, Iowa, in Company B, Fifth Infantry Regiment of Iowa Volunteers. His command was in action at New Madrid, Mo., the siege of Corinth, the battle of Corinth, Luka, Jackson, Clinton, Champion's Hill and Vicksburg, Miss., Missionary Ridge, Tenn., the Atlantic Campaign, and in many minor engagements. During his entire army service he was never in the hospital, never absent from his command, and he never missed a tour of duty. On the battle-field in front of Vicksburg his comrades chose him by an almost unanimous vote to be their company commander. This action of the men was ratified by all the field officers of his regiment, and Governor Kirkwood commissioned him Captain over the heads of both Lieutenants and the First Sergeant of his company. This is the only instance of this kind in the history of the war. He remained with his command until it was mustered out.
In civil life he has been at different times bookkeeper for a large manufacturing establishment in Cincinnati and for one of the largest lumber companies in Chicago; clerk in the U. S. Treasury, Interior and Postoffice Departments ; Chief of Division of Railroad Statistics of the Tenth Census; rate clerk of the C. B. and Q. Railroad; statistical clerk of the Chicago Fire Department; editor of the Manchester Gazette, the Maysville (Ky.) Republican and Round's Printers' Cabinet, Chicago; and Washington correspondent of a large number of newspapers. At the present time he is serving as law clerk of the Department of Agriculture.
He was married August 28, 1878, to Anna Rebecca Frow, of Winchester, youngest daughter of Archibald and Eliza Frow. They have two children and reside in their pleasant home, "Seven Gables," at Glencarlyn, Va., a beautiful suburb of Washington.
For several years, Captain Pennywitt has been devoting very special attention to the subject of a great national institution of learning to be located in the immediate vicinity of the National capital, a movement originated and earnestly advocated by the immortal Washington. He is the author of a memorial to Congress, presented in the Senate, February 28, 1899, by Senator Cullom, that has attracted much attention. This memorial offers the following suggestions:
(1.) The restoration to National jurisdiction of that portion of the District of Columbia (ten miles square) which lies south of the Potomac River.
(2. ) The founding of a city upon this reacquired territory, to be dedicated to the cause of learning and to be known as the city of Lincoln.
(3.) The establishment within this city of a great National institution of learning to be known as the University of Washington and Lincoln.
He expects to devote the remainder of his life to the development of this great project which has been described as "the fitting climax to all that has been done for education during the Nineteenth Century," and as "an undertaking worthy of the foremost nation on earth, and of the most progressive age of human history."
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900