Felix Renick was an American pioneer and cattleman.
Background
Felix Renick was born on November 5, 1770 in Hardy County, West Virginia, 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.
Career
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 an acre.
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 fat 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 America 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 October 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 January 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.
Achievements
Connections
About 1795 he had married Hannah See of Virginia; they were the parents of nine children.