From the Journals of William Burl Kincaid, Jr.: From White Sulpher to Salt Lick (William Owen Karrick Story: Part 1)

Hugh Karrick, 1845-1925 (my great, great-grandfather)

For the next few weeks, these posts won’t be about what my father-in-law wrote about Bath County, although we’ll get back to that later on. Instead, the posts will be about what my (Ginger's) great-uncle William Owen Karrick wrote about growing up in Salt Lick. For those of you who don’t know, my grandfather was Hugh Karrick of Salt Lick, and his brothers and sisters included Travis (father of Ann and Nan), Edsel (former principal at Salt Lick), Louticia (who taught school for many years in this county) and Virginia (who was the wife of Dr. Milburn Wheeler of Morehead). There are others, but those are the names with which many of you will be familiar. Some of my papaw’s siblings lived their lives away from Bath County. My Uncle Bill did, but, as you can tell upon reading his words, Salt Lick always held a special place in his heart.

From The William Owen Karrick Story:

I was born March 7, 1911 at White Sulpher, Bath Co., Kentucky. My father was James Thomas Karrick and my mother was Mary Warner Karrick. I was the seventh of twelve children in the Karrick family. Midwife Kate B. Nickell of Ewing brought me into this world.

I remember several instances in life when I was three years old – such as sitting on my father’s knee while he played the violin, bouncing me up and down. Several of my uncles were present at Christmas 1914. They had brought whiskey from Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, but I can’t remember anyone getting drunk other than my oldest brother, Paul. On one occasion Paul decided to play drunk-man. He poured and drank a cup of whiskey and ended up very sick, with a promise never to play drunk-man again.

I remember riding on a roof shingle over an embankment in our side yard when the snow was on.

I remember wanting to go with my older brothers to their rabbit boxes down in our orchard. Of course they didn’t let me go.

I remember well the day that we moved from White Sulpher to Salt Lick. We were riding in a buggy – a one horse carriage. I was four years old at the time. I was seated on the floor board, Mother (holding my sister Gertrude) and Dad were in the buggy seat, and my brother Hugh was standing up behind the buggy seat. I thought this trip of approximately three miles was a very long journey. We finally arrived at our new home in the afternoon. Three of my older brothers had preceded us with two wagons and our furniture – the last two loads.

My grandfather Hugh Karrick and grandmother Leticia Karrick had moved to Salt Lick earlier. They lived next door to our house. As soon as I could, I made a mad dash over to Grandmother’s house. I had visited with my parents when my grandparents lived on a farm at Mudlick before moving to Salt Lick. I spent many happy days at my grandmother’s house. She always had plenty of milk and molasses cookies. The cookies were in a big jar which I could reach.

At the age of six I started to school at Salt Lick. I had a teacher named Maude Wright. I remember the first day very well. I wanted to go to the same room with my brother Hugh but he insisted and I went to the Junior Order school building across the road from the main school building. I can’t remember too much of the first year of school except my dad helping me learn to read. He was always ready to help any of us with our studies. Our mother was the main spelling teacher.