CARNEAL, THOMAS DAVIS
Carlsbad Springs Hotel, ca. 1912.
Cincinnati banker Eli Kinney. Kinney built his mansion overlooking the Ohio River in 1877 on a 44-acre site. Later, the Fort Thomas Military Reservation was developed adjacent to this property. In 1949 Roman Catholic bishop William Mulloy invited the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm to the Diocese of Covington (see Roman Catholics), asking them to operate a home for the aged in Northern Kentucky. Mother Mary Teresa, a Carmelite sister, became the first superioradministrator of the nursing home. Carmel Manor was originally home to 35 residents, who were housed in the three-story mansion. Until 1953 the facility was owned by the diocese and operated by the Carmelite Sisters; at that time the Carmelite Sisters purchased the property and built a larger home to meet the growing needs of the elderly. A new building dedicated in 1956 was licensed to accommodate 99 residents. During the administration of Bishop Richard Ackerman, it was decided that there was a need in the area for a home for retired priests. To serve that purpose, the Regina Cleri house was completed in 1969 on the grounds of Carmel Manor, with a connection to the personal-care wing of Carmel Manor. From the 1940s to the 1980s, Carmel Manor functioned solely as a personal-care residence. A certificate-of-need to add a nursing wing was granted to Carmel Manor in 1987. This wing, with 65 nursing-facility beds, was built and occupied by July 4, 1990. It was named St. Joseph Terrace and was dedicated by Bishop William Hughes on October 13, 1990. The personal-care wing license of Carmel Manor was decreased to 80 beds, resulting in a total capacity of 145 residents. Today, the facility provides 24-hour nursing care and is Medicare and Medicaid certified. Residents are offered daily religious ser vices, rehabilitation ser vices, and beauty and barber ser vices, and they take part in numerous activities and outings.
“Historic Home Became Carmel Manor,” KP, October 11, 1999, 4K. Ryan, Paul E. History of the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky. Covington, Ky.: Diocese of Covington, 1954. Tenkotte, Paul A., David E. Schroeder, and Thomas S. Ward. To Be Catholic and American in Northern, Central, and Appalachian Kentucky: The Diocese of Covington, 1853–2003. Forthcoming.
Bill Thomas
CARNEAL, THOMAS DAVIS (b. January 31, 1786, Alexandria, Va.; d. November 3, 1860, Cincinnati, Ohio). Thomas D. Carneal, a founder and a prominent booster of the city of Covington, moved to Franklin Co., Ky., from Virginia with his parents, Thomas and Alice Davis Carneal, in about 1792. In 1800 the family relocated to Big Bone in Boone Co. In 1806, while his parents returned to Franklin Co., Thomas D. Carneal remained to establish himself in the Cincinnati area. By 1812 he was involved in a military supplies business with Newport’s founder, James Taylor Jr. In 1815 Campbell Co. appointed Carneal to survey the streets, “ways,” and roads of Newport. In that same year, Carneal married Sally Howell Stanley, a widow and the sister of the first wife of wealthy Cincinnati businessman Nicholas Longworth. After 1818, when the Kentucky legislature established state banks in 45 towns, Carneal and four others, including Taylor, organized the “first legal bank” in Campbell Co. Carneal also officiated in the early development of some of that county’s major roads. Earlier, in 1814, Richard Gano and Carneal, with John S. Gano and James W. Bryson, had purchased 200 acres in Covington for $50,000 from Thomas Kennedy, one of that town’s early settlers. In the same year, R. M. Gano sold his onefourth interest to Bakewell, Page, and Bakewell of Pittsburgh, Pa. (see Bakewell Family). In 1815 proprietors Carneal, John Gano, and Richard Gano
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requested that the Kentucky legislature incorporate Covington, appoint trustees, and plat the new town. Before the year’s end, Carneal sold his part of the land holdings purchased in Covington to his partners, John and Richard Gano, for $4,000 and a certain 9.5 acres within town limits at the east end of Fourth St. in Covington, valued at $5,000. About 1818 Carneal acquired land, including a portion of present-day Ludlow, where in 1820 he built one of Northern Kentucky’s landmarks, Elmwood Hall, overlooking the Ohio River. Thomas Carneal’s name is still well remembered locally because of the stately mansion on E. Second St. in Covington that is known as the Carneal House (see Gano-Southgate House). Deed records and old newspapers indicate that John Gano’s son Aaron owned the lots during the mansion’s construction, about 1820–1822. Over the years, newspaper accounts erroneously claimed that Carneal had built the house and that the famed French general the Marquis de Lafayette had been entertained there. The Kentucky Historical Highway Marker for the home also claims that the house was an Underground Railroad site. None of these claims are verifiable, and the details of Carneal’s exact connection to the home are lost. According to 1820 tax records from Kenton Co., Carneal owned land in Boone, Davies, Gallatin, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Kenton, Pulaski, and other Kentucky counties. Besides his business dealings in Covington and Cincinnati, Carneal engaged in land-development ventures around Louisville with a brother-in-law, James Breckinridge. By 1828 Covington was competing with nearby Newport to attract private investments. Carneal offered seven lots he owned in the name of the City of Covington, which he sold for $5 to developers of a cotton factory that became Covington’s first large industry. In 1831 Carneal and his wife Sarah sold their residence in Covington, on the south side of Second St. between Scott St. and Madison Ave., and other lots for $6,200 to the developer of the Covington Rolling Mill. Carneal and his family then moved to a new house on Broadway Ave. in Cincinnati. Anticipating Covington’s expansion west along the river in 1830, Carneal purchased 42 acres for $2,000 between the Ohio River and Sixth St. in Covington that joined with Craig’s Rd. (now Craig St.) to the west. In 1832 Carneal sold those 42 acres for $8,000 to Samuel Russell of Middletown, Conn. The parcel, which became the Johnston and Russell Subdivision, included Covington’s pioneer burying grounds (on Craig St.) and the site of the St. Mary Church, the first Catholic church in Covington (now the U.S. Courthouse on Fifth and Montgomery Sts.). In 1847, after the death of his wife, Carneal moved to Frankfort. While still residing in Frankfort, he became ill during a visit to Cincinnati. He convalesced in the residence of Nicholas Longworth (home today of Cincinnati’s Taft Museum) but soon died. He was buried in Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery. Smith, Allen Webb. Beginning at “The Point”: A Documented History of Northern Kentucky and Environs, the Town of Covington in Particular, 1751–1834. Park Hills, Ky.: A. W. Smith, 1977. Spring Grove Cemetery Records, Cincinnati.