CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER
as mayor pro tem. Cammack, who was especially interested in environmental issues and water resources, planned and implemented the development of Lake Burlington, an 850-acre reservoir and recreational lake near Burlington. In 1979 the lake was renamed Lake Cammack, in recognition of Allen Cammack’s part in creating it. After three years of failing health, he died in 1985 while staying at his daughter’s home in nearby Chapel Hill, N.C. His wife, the former Louella Arnold, and a son and a daughter survived him. Cammack was cremated and his ashes were spread over Lake Cammack. “Allen Berriman Cammack Sr.” Burlington (N.C.) Times-News, July 10, 1985, 2D. Cammack, Allen, Jr., to Michael R. Sweeney, May 2005. Houchens, Mariam Sidebottom. History of Owen County: “Sweet Owen.” Louisville, Ky.: Standard, 1976. “Lake Cammack Offers Nice Mixture,” Burlington (N.C.) Times-News, May 12, 2002.
CAMMACK, JAMES WILLIAM, JR. (b. 1902, Owenton, Ky.; d. July 30, 1958, New York, N.Y.). Judge James W. Cammack Jr. was born in Owenton in 1902 to James W. and Nell Allen Cammack. He graduated from Castle Height Military Academy, Lebanon, Tenn., in 1919 and attended Owenton High School for his senior year. He earned an LLB from the University of Kentucky (UK), where he also played guard on the football team. He passed the state bar in 1924. He taught high school and coached football for a few years before returning to UK to earn a BA in 1927 and an MA in education in 1929. After further study at Peabody College in Nashville and at the University of Chicago, he received a PhD from UK in 1937. Cammack held various state government positions in the interim. In 1938 Governor A. B. Chandler (1935– 1939, 1955–1959) appointed him to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. In 1944, having run as a candidate from both major parties, he was elected judge in that same court. In 1951 he became the chief justice of the court and was reelected for a second eight-year term. In 1958, while he was in New York City to attend an annual seminar for appellate judges, he died at St. Vincent Hospital following emergency surgery for an ulcer condition. He was buried at the Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, in the lot with his parents. Houchens, Mariam Sidebottom. History of Owen County: “Sweet Owen.” Louisville, Ky.: Standard, 1976. The Lexington Cemetery. www.lexcem.com.
CAMMACK, JAMES WILLIAM, SR. (b. July 15, 1869, Crawford Co., Ind.; d. February 5, 1939, Louisville, Ky.). Judge James Cammack was the eldest son of William Butler and Elizabeth Jane Franks Cammack. The family moved to Grant Co., Ky., along Eagle Creek, in 1872. James attended school in Grant Co. and also studied at the Cedar Grove College at Gratz. He taught school from 1884 until 1889 in Grant Co. and then entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he studied law; he passed the Kentucky examination to practice law in 1892. Afterward, he
set up a law practice in Owenton and quickly was recognized as a talented and able lawyer. Cammack married Nell Allen of Lexington in 1898; future U.S. Congressman June W. Gayle was one of his groomsmen. Cammack and his wife lived in Owenton and raised eight children, and Cammack practiced law there. From 1904 until 1907, he served as a Kentucky state senator for Owen and Grant counties. He sponsored legislation on temperance and legislation that provided the initial funding of the institutions that became Eastern Kentucky University at Richmond and Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green. Cammack was a member of the Board of Regents at Eastern Kentucky University for many years. In 1907 he became a circuit judge for the 15th Judicial District (Boone, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, and Owen counties) and continued in the position until 1916. In 1927 he was elected attorney general of Kentucky. While in that office, he sponsored legislation that improved laws governing commercial shipping; he joined with fellow Northern Kentuckians Charles B. Truesdell and Ellsworth Regenstein in a successful fight to save Cumberland Falls State Park from destruction by an upstream dam; he spoke out against gambling and prostitution in Northern Kentucky; and he promoted the building of the bridge at Gratz across the Kentucky River, eliminating the antiquated ferry ser vice located there. In 1932 Cammack returned to his law practice in Owenton. Following abdominal surgery, he contracted pneumonia and died in 1939 at St. Joseph Infirmary in Louisville. He was buried at the Lexington Cemetery in Lexington. Houchens, Mariam Sidebottom. History of Owen County: “Sweet Owen.” Louisville, Ky.: Standard, 1976. Kentucky Death Certificate No. 4021, for the year 1939. Lexington Cemetery Records. www.lexcem.com.
CAMNITZ, HOWIE (b. August 22, 1881, Covington, Ky.; d. March 2, 1960, Louisville Ky.). Major league baseball player Samuel Howard “Howie” Camnitz was the son of Henry Camnitz, a printer, and Elizabeth Camnitz (see Baseball). Howie began his major league career in 1904, as a right-handed pitcher with the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates. He was nicknamed “Red” or “Rosebud” because of his bright red hair. Howie’s younger brother Harry also attempted to become a major leaguer, but he only managed to pitch four innings for the Pirates and two for the National League’s St. Louis Cardinals, winning just one game. Howie’s best pitch was a curveball, but he used it so often that opposing players soon caught on and he was sent back to the minors to develop other pitches and learn to disguise his curveball. There, he compiled a win-loss record of 14-5, with 151 strikeouts. He returned to the Pirates in September 1906, and it soon became apparent that he had corrected his problems. In 1907 he compiled a pitching record of 13-8, with four shutouts and an earned run average (ERA) of 2.15. During the 1908 season, his pitching improved, giving him a 16-9 record, and he lowered his ERA to a microscopic 1.56. He saved his best pitching for 1909, when on opening
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day he pitched a shutout against the National League’s Cincinnati Reds. That year he became the ace of the Pittsburgh Pirates team and led them to the National League pennant. However, during the World Series, Camnitz apparently developed arm problems and pitched poorly. Some claimed that he was just out of shape, while others said that perhaps he had developed a drinking problem. He again pitched poorly during the 1910 season, posting a record of 12-13 with an ERA of 3.22. He rebounded the next year and pitched two 20-win seasons in a row. In 1913 he mysteriously developed control problems and walked a career-high of 107 batters, while compiling a record of 6-17. In August 1913 Camnitz was traded to the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies, where he continued his subpar pitching. Between the two clubs that year, he lost a total of 20 games. Although he was under contract with Philadelphia for the 1914 season, he jumped to the newly formed Federal League. In that much-less-competitive environment, Camnitz compiled a record of 14-18, with an ERA of 3.23. Early in the 1915 season, he was accused of violating club rules and was given an unconditional release. Camnitz returned to Louisville, where he took a job as an automobile salesman, a position he held for the next 40 years. He worked until about a month before his death at age 78. He was buried in the family plot at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville. Cave Hill Cemetery Records, Louisville, Ky. The Library of Congress: American Memory. “Howie Camnitz.” http://memory.loc.gov (accessed January 7, 2007). Reis, Jim. “Bluegrass Players Left Mark,” KP, December 20, 1993, 4K. SABR. “Howie Camnitz.” http://bioproj.sabr.org (accessed January 7, 2007).
CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER (b. September 12, 1788, near Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland; d. March 4, 1866, Bethany, W.Va.). Alexander Campbell, an influential preacher, was the oldest of the seven children of Thomas and Jane Corneigle Campbell. His minister father was a Scottish Presbyterian; his mother was a French Huguenot. By 1809 the family had arrived in the United States; in Pennsylvania they organized the Christian Association of Washington. Alexander, who had trained for the Presbyterian ministry at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, delivered his first sermon in 1810 while living in Pennsylvania. The following year, he wed Margaret Brown, and they made their home in Bethany, Va. An educator, debater, and reformer, Alexander Campbell arrived in Kentucky in 1823 to debate Presbyterian minister William L. McCalla of Augusta. The debate, which concerned the issue of baptism, was staged in Washington, Ky., on October 15 of that year. Campbell’s reputation had preceded him, and he was in Maysville one month before, meeting with influential church and civic leaders. Preachers, lawyers, and people interested in such matters attended the debate, and many were favorably impressed by Campbell’s arguments. Judge Walker Reed, previously an Episcopalian,