Pfc. Talmage Edward Dawson, U.S. Army in France during WWI
My Maternal Grandfather Talmage Edward Dawson was an American WWI 'Dough Boy' Veteran. He was born in 1894/5 (dates vary) in Topeka, Kansas, to David Bennett Dawson & Alvira Elizabeth Mansfield, being one of five Dawson siblings, including Cora Vihara, Frank Claude Burtle, Margaret May, & Charles Mann. Native of Kansas. His Granddaughter Jeanene Michele Forshey says Talmage was raised Mormon. His 1st Marriage to Mabel was in the Baptist Parsonage, possibly indicating a Baptist slant in religion or his 1st Wife's religion. His Father David Bennett Dawson died in a railway accident in Topeka in 1902 as mentioned later in a newspaper article, thus making Talmage a Half-Orphan. His Mother later remarried. It appears that Talmage spent most of the rest of his childhood in Kansas, attending Washington School in Concordia. At the time of WWI, he failed to earn an exemption from the Draft on the basis of Marriage because he applied for the exemption t...