This is Grama Jo's dad.
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Grampa Renick was born Franklin Hamilton Renick, August 4, 1864 in Hartford, Connecticut. We have always been amazed at how much my little brother, Jay, looks like Grampa Renick. Actually, he really looked like him when he was younger and really thin... Still, there is quite a resemblance. He settled, with his family in Seattle, WA, where he became a Senator.
In a book called: A Volume of Memoirs and Geneology of Representative Citizens of The City of Seattle and County of King Washington - Including biographies of many of those who have passed away, had a picture of Grampa and quite a detailed write-up. The following is the write-up (please note that some of the sentences don't make sense. This, I believe is due to a page cut off):
The rapid growth of Seattle in recent years, the introduction of vast and undaunted. John Hamilton Renick, the grandfather, removed from made a great demand for property and has enlisted in the real-estate field many business men of marked ability and keen discrimination. As a member of the firm of F.H. Renick & company, his partner being John C. Watrous, Frank Hamilton Renick is successfully conducting real-estate operations, placing investments and selling property. He is also doing a loan and insurance business and his efforts are bringing to him creditable prosperity.
A native of Hartford, Connecticut, he was born August 4, 1864, and is of English and Welsh ancestry, the family having been established in Pennsylvania at a very early period. Robert Renick, the great-grandfather, was a soldier in the war for independence and served through the Mad River campaign, in which he won the reputationof being an intrepid fighter, brave and undaunted. John Hamilton Renick, the grandfather, removed from Keystone state to Springfield, Ohio, and there took up government land, becoming one of the first settlers in that portion of the state. Subsequently he removed to Bellefonaine, Logan county, where he reared his family of seven children. He was a Presbyterian in his religious belief and a Whig in political faith in early life, but when that party ceased to have an existence he joined the ranks of the new Republican party. His death occurred when he was seventy-four years of age.
James Henry Renick, his son and the father of our subject, was born in Huntsville, Ohio, in 1832, when he had reached adult age he married Josephine Sophia Dunklee, a native of Plymouth, New Hampshire. She was of English descent, her ancestors having come to America during the colonial epoch in our country's history. Mr. and Mrs. Renick removed to Hartford, Connecticut, and later to Brooklyn, New York, where they remained until our subject was eight years of age, when they went to Port Huron, Michigan. Some years afterward they removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where the father died in 1874. He had for many years been prominently engaged in lumbering and had sold large amounts of lumber to the government, doing an extensive and prosperous business. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian, was an excellent citizen and an upright, reliable business man. His wife still survives and is now in the fifty-ninth year of her age. She resided in Detroit, Michigan. In the family were four children, three of whom are living: Grace is the wife of S. T. McGraw, of Detroit, Michigan, a member of a very prominent family of that city. Carrie has become the wife of Frank W. Osborne, a prominent citizen of Detroit and descended from one of its oldest families.
In the schools of Concord, New Hampshire, and Buffalo, New York, Mr. Renick of this review pursued his education. For her second husband his mother married Egbert C. Bradford, the partner of her first husband. There was one child by that marriage, Walter G. Bradford. The family resided in Detroit and our subject attended the Bryant & Stratton Business College of that city, after which he became very active in the manufacture of lumber, also acquiring a practical and intimate knowledge of the business in all its departments from the purchase of the logs to the operation of the mills, the bookkeeping and the sales made.
On the 13 th of April, 1888, Mr. Renick arrived in Seattle with the intention of continuing in the lumber business, but an outlook over the business opportunities of the city decided him to turn his attention to real-estate dealing, in which he has since been successfully engaged. He was here during the great fire of 1889 and since that time has been an active factor in the rapid and substantial growth of the city, which emerged from the ashes to take its place as the queen city of the northwest. He passed through the financial panic successfully and has platted and sold several additions to the city. The business of the firm has grown constantly since its organization and they have become investors for prominent eastern business men and have acquired a high reputation for ability and trustworthiness.
In 1889 Mr. Renick was married to Miss Alice Caldwell, a native of California and a daughter of Dr. Robert G. Caldwell, now deceased. This union has been blessed with two children: Josephine Bradford and Grace Frances. The parents are valued and helpful members of the Baptist church. In politics Mr. Renick takes quite an active and influential part and is now treasurer of the Republican city central committee. He belongs to St. John Lodge, No. 9. F.&A. M.; Seattle Chapter, No. 3, R.A.M., and is a member of the Order of Foresters. While an enterprising and active business man, he is also interested in scientific research and investigation, especially along the line ornithology, and has made a large collection of the eggs of Washington birds. His study in this direction has resulted in furnishing the United States valuable information on the subject and he was the means of correcting a mistake made in the Smithsonian Institute, proving to them that the eggs which are labeled those of the black swift were eggs of the purple martin. His varied interests have made Mr. Renick a well rounded character. He is not so abnormally developed in any one direction as to be called a genius, but his business life, supplemented by study and research, by political work and the pleasures of social life, have made his strong manhood. His business reputation is unassailable and among his many friends he is popular because of his genial and courteous manner.
Okay, so here is my daddy when he was a little tiny boy.
