Category Archives: Black History

A Hometown Baseball Legend

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Photo courtesy of the Bath County Outlook.

My father-in-law, William Burl Kincaid, Jr., was a huge baseball fan. Well . . . he was more like a fanatic.  Some of my fondest memories are of going with him to watch his beloved St. Louis Cardinals play their exhibition games in Louisville and watching them play their championship games on TV in his living room. This was back in the 1980’s when they boasted such players as Willie McGee and the outstanding Ozzie Smith. There was one hometown player from the 1920’s that he thought ranked right up with these greats – Nathan Redmon..

I’ve seen Nathan Redmon’s name spelled several different ways. My late father-in-law spelled it “Redman” – the clipping above has it spelled “Redmond” – his death announcement below spells it as “Redmon” and that’s the one I feel is correct. I’ve left my FIL’s spelling as he wrote it.

My FIL was born in 1916, and thus he would have been very young when the Owingsville Giants were in their heyday. He grew up very close to Kimbrough Park, so I’m sure Nathan Redmon was a larger than life figure to him at that time. ~ Ginger

From his journals:

Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, and Willie Mays. If you love baseball, you have heard of the exploits of these baseball players, but have you heard the name Nathan Redman?  This man was legend around Owingsville. To begin with, he was endowed with a fine physique.  He stood about six-two and was well proportioned.

Nathan, in his younger days, was noted as a pitcher with a blazing, screaming fast ball. Today, baseball fans would say that he threw “heat.”   Many batters – good hitters – were caught with their bats on their shoulders.  Of some that did swing, it was too late because of the velocity of his pitch.

Nathan, like many pitchers today, unfortunately developed arm trouble and that blaze he had thrown was slowed down.  Being a great hitter (especially of the long ball), Nathan began to play first base and was a standout there. 

The author saw him play many times and on occasions remembers the left-handed batter hitting one that rolled across U.S. 60 from Kimbrough Park.*

Had Nathan Redman lived now or in recent years, those who remember him feel that he would have starred as a big leaguer.  In his day, Nathan could not have been a National League or American League player because of his color.

Some of you remember the men who played with Nathan.  To name a few – Jim Reid, Jerry Lacy, Bob Foley, Dusty Stewart, Diner Gray, and Lawrence Berry. **

* Kimbrough Park was located in the vicinity where the Southern States lot is and across from Steve Butcher’s car lot on U.S. 60 East.

**I’m not completely sure the names Dusty and Diner are correct as those words are difficult to make out in the text. If they are wrong, please make a comment or drop me a note.

An announcement in the October 11, 1962 edition of the Bath County News-Outlook. Note the spelling of Nathan’s last name

From the August 28, 1920 edition of The Public Ledger out of Maysville.

From the July 15, 1921 edition of The Public Ledger of Maysville, KY.

From the August 28, 1920 edition of The Public Ledger out of Maysville.

"Cap" Dawson’s Blacksmith Shop

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Clipping courtesy of the Bath County History Museum’s Facebook page.

In this entry, Mr. Burl writes about the blacksmith shops that were in Owingsville and specifically mentions “Cap” Dawson.  In his book, The History of Bath County, John Adair Richards also mentions Cap Dawson.

From the journals:

Have you ever watched a blacksmith prepare a shoe for shoeing a horse?  All of our Bath County towns had these shops.  A typical blacksmith had an anvil, a forge and bellow, hammers, cutters, barrel of water, and nails.  The “Smithy’s” shop often was crude with a dirt floor.

Before the automobile took its toll on the blacksmith shops in the late twenties, there were three shops in Owingsville.  Do you recall the name of “Cap” Dawson, Wes Harris, and Jim Reed?  “Cap” was the smith for a shop located where Western Auto* now operates.  Later,  “Cap” operated a shop where the E.L. and A.T. Byron building now stands on the corner of Henry and Oberlein Streets (not “Oberline” as is currently on the sign).

Young boys often frequented these shops as spectators enjoying the works of the blacksmiths.  Often there was excitement when an unruly horse acted up. Blacksmiths would on occasion accept other jobs such as repairing hinges, repairing metal parts of farm wagons, etc. 

*Western Auto was located where Family Discount Drugs now stands. If you look on the map below, you’ll see a blacksmith shop in that location.

Old Sanborn Insurance map of Owingsville from 1903. This map shows a blacksmith shop on the corner of Henry and Oberlein. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Owingsville, Bath County, Kentucky. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .

This clipping shows a blacksmith shop on what is now Slate Avenue.
Sanborn Insurance Map of Owingsviile, 1886. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

A newspaper clipping announcing the marriage of Cap Dawson and Seperta Dale. Seperta would later take the surname “Wright.” Clipping retrieved from newspapers.com by Ancestry.