Felix William Renick

Other Events and Attributes:

• Emigration: 1801, WV to OH

Notes:

From several sources & family papers:

Felix Renick, Ohio pioneer, cattleman, was born in Hardy County, VA a son of William Renick who emigrated from Ireland to America and who became a deputy under Lord Fairfax in the survey of counties in southern Virginia. His ancestors, according to family tradition, were German. As a youth Renick with two friends made a trip of exploration into Ohio and investigated the region lying between the Scioto and Licking rivers. In 1801 he returned to Ohio to settle, purchasing of the government at Chillicothe a large tract of land in Ross County at $2.50 per an acre. About 1795 he had married Hannah See of Virginia; they were the parents of nine children. He was interested in children and erected at his own expense on his farm by the turnpike what was long known as the Felix Renick school house. He was also one of the founders and the first president of the Logan Historical Society and contributed several articles to its magazine, the American Pioneer.

Felix and his brother George Renick became the outstanding agricultural leaders in south central Ohio. They fed superior cattle for their day and were the first persons to make long overland drives of cattle to market. In 1802 they visited Kentucky and bought a herd of longhorns. In 1833 forty-six men in Ohio and two in Kentucky organized "the Ohio Company for importing English Cattle." This company employed Felix Renick to go to England to import some of the best improved cattle of that country. He sailed in January 1834, made a careful inspection of notable herds, and returned to American with nineteen head of shorthorns. This included several animals that later became famous progenitors. In 1835 a second, and again in 1836 a third consignment was brought from England to the Renick farm. On Oct. 29, 1836, an auction sale of these cattle was held on the farm south of Chillicothe. Forty-three animals brought $35.540. This was the most epoch-making cattle sale held in America up to that time. On Jan. 27, 1848, when in his seventy-eighth year, Renick was killed by a timber falling upon him at the Paint Creek ferry near Chillicothe. His remains lie in a little family cemetery overlooking the farm.

The smallest State park in Ohio is Renick Memorial State Park, only a few yards in length and width. The monument commemorates Felix Renick (1770-1848), an early Ohio livestock raiser who inaugurated the overland route to Eastern livestock markets in 1804 by driving his herds over Zane's Trace to Baltimore and other cities. Renick was the first American to import (1834) full-blooded Shorthorn cattle from Europe, and held the first public sale of the breed in this country not far from the park site.

Betty Dotson Renick
mailto: sy13@worldnet.att.net

Died:
struck by falling pole

Felix married Hannah Rachel See about 1795. Hannah (daughter of Michael Adam See and Barbara Rebecca Harness) was born on 10 Jun 1768; died on 3 Apr 1836. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]