Abram Grant Renick
RENICK, ABRAM GRANT (1863–1933), inducted circa 1909
This portrait was reported as hanging in the collection in 1910, but it was not listed in the 1920 inventory. Whereabouts are unknown.
Abram Renick was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Generations before, his family imported English purebred cattle and helped establish the Shorthorn breed in Ohio and Kentucky. His Kentucky ancestors helped settled the frontier and contributed to its agrarian character by introducing bluegrass seed to the region. Abram Renick established a farm in Clark County and served as a member of the Kentucky General Assembly for years, beginning in 1898. Renick introduced the legislation to establish the Kentucky State Fair in 1901. Unsuccessful in his bid to be Kentucky’s Lieutenant Governor in 1902, Renick left politics for a time and devoted his energy to his nationally known stock enterprise, continuing the Rose of Sharon line established by his ancestors. In 1912, much of the herd was dispersed so Renick could spend more time in Chicago, where he was an officer of both the American Shorthorn Breeders’ Association and the Pedigreed Livestock Association of America. He was added to the Saddle & Sirloin biography list in 2025, when a 1910 newspaper article from The Chicago Live Stock World was discovered, announcing that a new portrait of Abram Renick had recently been hung in the English banquet hall at the Saddle & Sirloin Club. It was mentioned again in a 1915 clipping stating that the seven painted portraits of Shorthorn association past presidents (including Renick) were about to be photographed at the request of the organization. Renick’s portrait was not listed in later inventories, however.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 164