Hancock County, Kentucky Stories
Emmick Home
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Source Hancock County Clarion 1979
Typed as it appeared in the Clarion by Mary
Gibbs, for non-profit use.
The descendants of one of the oldest
substantial families occupy one of the oldest, most substantial
homes in Hancock County. The Harry Clark Emmick family did reside
here in this Ancestral home, 6 miles east of Lewisport and ¾
mile north of 334 (?) near the OhioRiver. The short lane from the
main road to the river was known variously as Emmick Landing Road
or Thompsons Landing Road, at the time the house was built in
1854. Its builder was George Emmick, Harry Clark Emmicks
great-grandfather,
who was second generation of the family to live in Kentucky,
George’s father (Harry Clarke’s great-great-grandfather)
was Nicholas Emmick, who is said to have secured a land-grant
while he was a resident of Pennsylvania, and subsequently re-located
in Hancock County. He lived in a log house and engaged in river-related
trade. His sons, George and Jacob, were steamboat men. Each
inherited half of Nicholas Emmicks property in Hancock County.
Harry Clark Emmick believes Nicholas Emmick owned a great deal
more land than he eventually passed down to his heirs. By the
time of his death, the land east of the Emmick home-place owned
by Dill Brothers. George Emmick built the house when he was 60
years old at estimated cost of $6,000; indicating he was a rather
wealthy individual.
The house is of Colonial Georgian
architecture in style, had once had a veranda running the length
of the front, according to present owners. The walls are 5 bricks
thick; the interior wood is 2 ½ X 12 timbers on 12-inch centers.
The timber, a hard poplar with a bluish cast to its coloring, was
sawed by Huffman’s water-powered sawmill back of (northwest)
Troy, Indiana, on the Anderson River. The bricks were made by
slave labor, mostly. Slaves may also have had a large part in the
actual construction of the house.
The brick, oversized in their dimensions,
were made on the farm, on a ridge about a quarter mile from the
house there is still a small pond, some 200 feet in diameter,
which is called the “Clay hole.” It is on property that
was owned by Willie Joe Emmick. The clay which was mined there is
reddish-grey with a blue streak through it, according to Harry
Clark Emmick. He says the color of the walls are still visible
under the surface of the water. He also stated that the firing
kilns were located beside the clay hole and many brickbats are to
be found in the vicinity today.
After the death of George Emmick, the
house became the property of his son, Clarence Emmick, a bachelor.
Clarence lived with his mother there, but eventually turned the
house over to his brother, Stephen, who took care of him until
his death. Stephen, who had 5 sons, was the first Emmick in
Hancock County to follow the occupation of farming. The steam
engine was gaining acceptance as an efficient adjunct to
agriculture, and the Emmicks owned and operated them for several
years. It could have been an influence retained from the
steamboat days, to some extent. The home has since been handed
down to direct descendants, all of them having close ties to the
land and machines. Stephen passed the property to Knox Emmick,
Harry Clark Emmicks father. Harry and his wife, Lavonne Taylor
Emmick, have hopes their son Byron, will someday reside there in
due time. The home is not the oldest in Hancock County, but is
one of the oldest.