This portrait photo recently arrived from an eBay dealer in New Hampshire and my research bug is in full throttle. The photo was taken at the Burnham Photo Studio in Burlington, VT in 1917 and depicts a 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment Captain posing for the camera. I’ve seen similar shots of other officers taken at the same studio. Not much to go on in terms of an identification, but I feel that a little hard work will pay off. I should be able to narrow down all the captains in the 1st VT and work from there. Most officers would have their portraits listed in unit histories, so my journey may take me in search of obscure tomes. All the more fun!
Here’s the breakdown of the distribution from the 1st Vermont Infantry Regiment:
101st Ammunition Train, 26th Division
1 Major, 6 Captains, 3 First Lieutenants, 3 Second Lieutenants, 700 Enlisted Men
101st Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division
2 First Lieutenants, 2 Second Lieutenants, 197 Enlisted Men
102nd Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division
1 First Lieutenant, 2 Second Lieutenants, 212 Enlisted Men
103rd Machine Gun Battalion, 26th Division
2 First Lieutenants, 1 Second Lieutenant, 229 Enlisted Men
With this info in hand, I’ve been able to narrow down our sitter as a Captain who is most likely an officer with the 101st Ammunition Train of the 26th Division. I’ve located a list of the captains of the 1st VT who were transferred to the 101st Ammo Train:
Captain Charles E. Pell, Co. B, St.Albans
Captain Haroll M. Howe, Co.F, Northfield
Captain Dowe E. McMath, Co.H, Montpelier
Captain William N. Hudson, Co.M, Burlington
Captain Richard T. Corey, Co.L, Newport
Captain John L. Shanley, Co.G, Winooski
Our sitter is one of the above-listed men. Now to get down to some ancestry.com research……………..
I started with Captain Pell and quickly found a portrait of him. His long ear lobes are quite distinct and are not a match for our sitter.
Captain Pell
Captain Howe was next and I was able to find a shot from his 1911 Norwich University year book. Not sure on the ID, so I will continue to search……..
Captain Howe
Next step – locate a copy of the 101st Ammunition Train unit history. Hopefully officer photos are listed!
Portraits of War 
Brennan, good luck with the last part of the research. You’ve narrowed him down to a few possible matches. Great. Hopefully you can locate a unit history with photos; maybe Jim C. has one?
I have recovered three photographs of WWI that I believe to be associated with my grandfather from Barre VT. The first is of the 1st Vermont Infantry, Camp Green NC. The second is of the 57th Pioneer Infantry at Camp Wadsworth SC and the third is a photograph of my grandfathers musket platoon in 1919. These photographs are being framed now. I will have photographs of them after framing.
11/04/2013