Looking for a Photo of Pfc. Talmage Edward Dawson (1894?-1974) of Kansas

Dear Mr. Kaess,

The "official" photographs of individuals are not considered to be permanent federal records by the respective military services and are not retained in a separate collection by the service. If the photograph you are seeking still exists, it will most likely be found in the individual's Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). However, there is no guarantee the photograph will be present.

If you have not already done so, we suggest that you request a copy of his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF). OMPFs and individual medical reports for enlisted men of the U.S. Army who were separated from the service after October 1912 and before 1960 are in the custody of NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. In many cases where personnel records were destroyed in the 1973 fire, proof of service can be provided from other records such as morning reports, payrolls, and military orders, and a certificate of military service will be issued. Please complete a GSA Standard Form 180 and mail it to NARA's National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138-1002. Veterans and next of kin of deceased veterans also may use eVetRecs to request records. See eVetRecs Help for instructions. For more information see Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Archival Records Requests.

Please be aware that NPRC is prioritizing the requests for separation documents needed by veterans and their dependents to prove eligibility for a variety of benefits. NPRC expects to eliminate this portion of the backlog by fall 2022, and restore their pre-pandemic response times of under ten days for these requests later this fall. It will take considerably longer to eliminate the backlog on other types of requests, such as genealogical requests for complete copies of records. For more information, please refer to Onsite Operations at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.

Photographs of various U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps activities and subjects during WWI are in the custody of the National Archives at College Park - Still Picture (RDSS). Please contact RDSS via email at stillpix@nara.gov.

We searched the National Archives Catalog and located a series titled Records of Divisions, 1917 - 1920 in the Records of the American Expeditionary Forces (World War I) (Record Group 120) that includes the 88th Division and files of the 351st Infantry Regiment in Boxes 8-9; and Records of the 1st Through 338th and the 559th Infantry Regiment, 1916-1921 in the Records of U.S. Regular Army Mobile Units (Record Group 391) that include the records of the 351st Infantry Regiment during WWI. For more information about these non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

We also located the Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917 - 1938 and Lists of Outgoing Passengers, 1917 - 1938 in the Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General (Record Group 92) that may include the lists on which the soldiers of the 351st Infantry Regiment were sent to France and back to the U.S. during WWI. For more information about these non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.

These records have been digitized by Ancestry and may be viewed online at U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939. There may be a fee for using Ancestry. Instead, please check for access at your local library as many library systems subscribe to these sites, making them free for their patrons.

Next, we located Morning Reports, ca. 1912 - 1946 for Army units during WWI and WWII. For more information about these records, please contact the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL) via email at stl.archives@nara.gov. 

Some of these records have been digitized by Fold3 and may be viewed online at U.S. Morning Reports, 1912-1939. There may be a fee for using Fold3. Instead, please check for access at your local library as many library systems subscribe to these sites, making them free for their patrons.

In addition, we suggest that you request a copy of his Official Personnel File (OPF) for his work with the U.S. Government Printing Office. OPFs and medical information for individuals who worked for the U.S. government in a civilian capacity before 1952 are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis (RL-SL). Please email RL-SL via email at stl.archives@nara.gov and  include the full name used during Federal employment, date of birth, Social Security Number (if applicable), name and location of the employing Federal agency, beginning and ending dates of Federal Service. For more information, please check the Official Personnel Folders (OPF), Archival Holdings and Access website.

You may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgment as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDSS, RDT2 and RL-SL. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience as we balance mission-critical work and the safety of our staff during the pandemic. Please check NARA’s web page about COVID-19 updates for the latest information.

Please see NARA’s World War I Centennial website for more information. You may also wish to search the U.S. Army Center of Military History World War I - U.S. Army Center Of Military History for additional information and/or resources.

Lastly, we suggest that you contact the State Archives - Collections - Kansas Historical Society to obtain his birth certificate; and the Office of Vital Statistics | KDHE, KS to request a search for his marriage or death certificates for Talmage Edward Dawson. You may wish to note any name variants or broaden your search for the surrounding years. In addition, the FamilySearch Research wikis for Kansas Vital Records and Kansas, United States Genealogy may be helpful. 

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!

Brian,

Here is an article regarding your grandfather. See him listed in the second paragraph

Brian,

You might also want to check with the Kansas State Historical Scociety, They have an entry for him in box  #11, In the series titled WW1 Bounty Claims.

https://www.kshs.org/kmi/kmi_wwiclaims/search/surname:Dawson/fname:/branch:/servicenumber:/claim:/submit:SEARCH

Hi Brian,

I saw that you donated his letters, https://www.genealogycenter.info/military/wwi/search_talmagedawson.php

so will assume you have seen the numerous references to him in the newspapers on Newspapers.com through the years (both before & after the War), in a variety of papers in Concordia, Pittsburg, Hiawatha & Eskridge KS - Unfortunately, no picture.

- If you don't have access let me know & I can send them.

- I looked in these references for a picture without success, but they do have info on the 351st actions

- The 88th Division in the World War of 1914-1918.  NY:  Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford, 1919.  236 p.  #05-88.1919

- Memoirs of France and the 88th Division . Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN:   Webb, 1920

- has some individual images but not his

- This book does have group images of the Companies of 351st & there is a picture of Headquarters Company.  Like many of these WWI panoramic images, the men appear to have been numbered in the photo but unfortuntely I never saw a key to any of these.  Would love to know if they exist!

- US. Government Printing Office, The 351st Infantry Historical Notes 1917 - 1919, © 1919, C. F. Brantner, Hardcover, 120 Pages.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.351stinfantry00bran/?st=gallery

Image #28 – Headquarters Company

https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.351stinfantry00bran/?sp=28&r=0.254,0.604,0.491,0.201,0

- You could check with the local libraries & historical societies in Concordia, Hiawatha, Pittsburg & Eskridge & any other cities he may have lived in to see if they have any photos of local people that lived or worked in the town through the various decades.  Or images of local veterans

- This article (I've included a portion) mentions his involvement with the Cary Post American Legion in Eskridge KS. 

Eskridge Independent July 21 1920 p. 1

...

I would check with American Legion Posts in towns where you know he lived to see if they have member photos

- I am not sure the Eskridge Post is still active.  I found this mailing address but maybe check with the Kansas American Legion organization  https://kansaslegion.org/contact

- These were on the American Legion National site

KS Post 0064

2815 N Joplin St Pittsburg, KS 66762-2568

Family: Legion Riders, Sons of The American Legion

Phone: (620)231-2240

Email: remunson44@yahoo.com

KS Post 0076

506 Washington St Concordia, KS 66901-2117

Family: Legion Riders, Sons of The American Legion

Phone: (785)243-9834

Email: alpost76concordia@yahoo.com

Visit Our Website

- You could also check with any VFW Posts to see if he joined that organization

- This article lists him as a member of the Typographical Union

The Worker’s Chronicle (Pittsburg KS) Jun 14 1918 p. 1

- This link lists the records of the KS Typographical Union.  https://files.shsmo.org/manuscripts/kansas-city/K0208.pdf 

Although manyof the papers are records like meeting minutes, they do list some membership cards from 1920's.  I don't know if these would have pictures.

Hope one of the avenues that people have provided will reveal an image of him!

Best of luck!

E.