PAINT LICK. The old Louisville Rd. heading west from Boone Co., now U.S. 42, traverses a small piece of higher ground between Paint Lick Creek, Little Sugar Creek, and the Ohio River in eastern Gallatin Co. In fall 1861 this narrow neck of land was the scene of a Civil War skirmish; also, the Paint Lick Baptist Church was established nearby. Just before the war, James Alexander, Ralph Bright, Conrad Denzler, John Hudson, James H. Jackson, Charles Rider, Elsberry Seaver, and the L. B. and Henry Sisson families inhabited the land around Paint Lick Creek. As the events of the Civil War unfolded, these families established a Baptist congregation that apparently met during the war. In February 1866 this congregation purchased two acres of land on the Ohio River from Levi and Elizabeth Jackson for $200, using funds donated by Ralph Bright. According to the deed, half of the land was to be used as a cemetery. Henry Sisson donated the timber for the building. That same year, the Paint Lick Baptist Church was admitted to the Ten Mile Baptist Association. In 1886 the Paint Lick Baptist congregation built a church building on the knoll that was used for over 100 years. In 1957 it purchased an additional tract of land from Willie B. Norton for $1,500 to expand the church cemetery. In 2000 a modern church and Sunday school building was erected on the old church site. This is an active congregation today. Jonathan Howe, whose son Silas was a captain in the 18th Kentucky Union Infantry, maintained a general store at the hamlet of Sugar Creek near the Ohio River. Jonathan Howe was born in Auburn, N.Y., to a family who migrated to Patriot, Ind., and became leaders in the antislavery Universalist Church there. Several of his nephews were steamboat pilots and were believed to be useful in giving information to the Union during the Civil War. Completely dedicated to the Union cause, Howe organized a company of Home Guards numbering 18 to 20 men. Their training camp, called Camp Boyle, was on Paint Lick Creek. On October 30, 1861, two soldiers from Captain Jonathan Howe’s Home Guards were captured by a party of Confederates said to be 30 to 40 in number, led by Luther Green, a local recruit to the CSA. News came to Captain Howe that these two men were about to be hanged, so he immediately began pursuit and caught up with the Confederates. In the ensuing skirmish, Confederates Robert Herndon and T. J. Hughes were killed, and Luther Green was taken prisoner and sent to Cincinnati via steamboat to be incarcerated at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio. The two captured Home Guards were freed unharmed, and small arms and personal equipment were confiscated in the Battle of Paint Lick.
Several of the families in the Warsaw, Paint Lick, and Sugar Creek area sent sons into the Union Army. Officers in the 18th Kentucky Infantry included Lt. Col. John J. Landrum; captains D. R. Pugsley, Henry P. Richey, and James C. Bacon; and 1st Lt. Weedon C. Sleet. Officers in the 55th Kentucky Infantry were Capt. John C. Richards (mustered in as a 2nd lieutenant in the 18th Kentucky Infantry), Capt. Silas Howe (mustered in as 1st lieutenant in the Kentucky 18th), and 2nd Lt. George W. Story. The Union 7th Cavalry officers included Capt. George M. Sisson, 1st Lt. John S. Stoghill, 1st Lt. John Thomas Hopkins, and 2nd Lt. Robert E. Carlton. William M. Simpson served as quartermaster sergeant in the 11th Kentucky Cavalry. Bogardus, Carl R., Sr. The Story of Gallatin County. Ed. James C. Claypool. Cincinnati: John S. Swift, 2003. Howe, Daniel, as reported in A Tour through Indiana in 1840: The Diary of John Parsons of Petersburg, Virginia, ed. Kate Milner Rabb. New York: Robert M. McBride, 1920.
Diane Perrine Coon
PALM, EUGENE JIMMY “GENE” (b. November 8, 1930, Newport, Ky.; d. February 20, 1987, Huntsville, Ala.). Gene Palm, who worked in missile development with the U.S. Army, was the only son of railroad mechanic Walter James “Jimmy” and Mayme Elizabeth Phirman Palm. Gene grew up along the west side of Saratoga St., near 10th St., in Newport, and he and his father were heavily involved in knothole baseball. Gene graduated from Newport High School in 1949. He attended the University of Cincinnati and earned a BS (1954) and an MA (1956) in chemical engineering. He finished school while the Hungarian uprising during the cold war was taking place in 1956, was drafted into the military, and went to Fort Knox for U.S. Army basic training. At the end of basic training, when most soldiers were assigned to train at specialized military schools, Palm was pulled aside and handed special orders. After two weeks of leave, he was to report to the Redstone Missile Base in Huntsville, Ala. There he was to report to Dr. Wernher von Braun, the former Nazi missile scientist, who was then heading up the U.S. missile development program. For the duration of his two years in the army, Palm was paid as a private while serving as one of von Braun’s assistants. Afterward, he was formally hired as a civilian by the U.S. Army Missile Command, where he worked for the next 30 years. Because of national security regulations, he was not allowed to discuss what he did, other than to explain that he worked with rocket fuels. He had a top-secret clearance and traveled the world. Early one February morning in 1987, at his Huntsville home, Palm had a diabetic attack from which he did not recover. He was buried in a Huntsville cemetery. The work Palm did in Huntsville as one of von Braun’s assistants in missile research remains classified. Phirman Family File, vertical fi le, Kenton Co. Public Library, Covington, Ky.
Michael R. Sweeney
PARISH KITCHEN. When Rev. William Mertes was appointed pastor of Mother of God Catholic Church in Covington in 1971, he initiated many changes in the parish. One of them was inspired by his discovery that homeless and lowincome individuals were often coming to the rectory looking for something to eat (see Homelessness and Homeless Shelters). He started a food kitchen in the parish hall, serving soup and sandwiches to those in need. In 1974, because of the need for more room to cook and serve, Mertes moved the soup kitchen to a former bar in Covington, located at the corner of Pike and Russell Sts., and called it the Parish Kitchen. Mary and James LaVelle helped to run the soup kitchen, along with many other parishioners, until Molly Navin became director in 1987. The building that houses the Parish Kitchen was remodeled from a front-room bar to a full room in the back of the building, with a commercial kitchen and tables and chairs. The Parish Kitchen serves a full hot meal from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., seven days a week. More than 300 guests are served each day, and there are more than 300 active volunteers who cook and serve at the kitchen or prepare desserts and entrées at home to be served at the Parish Kitchen. Others pick up donations from local restaurants such as Panera Bread, which offers the Parish Kitchen its overstocked goods each Sunday. To brighten holidays such as Thanksgiving, eager volunteers cook and serve turkey, dressing, and other traditional fare and offer fellowship to the homeless, low-income families, and anyone else who comes through the door. The Kenton Co. Public Library sponsors a reading program for children at the Parish Kitchen. On two Wednesdays each month, Erin Seitz, a children’s programmer with the library, comes in during the lunch hour and, moving from table to table, reads to the children. Thanks to donations from the community, Seitz also distributes books that the children may take with them. Used paperback books are also available for adults to borrow or keep. Bogenschutz, Pat, Joan Burkhart, Mary Clare Duhme, Jodi Keller, and Molly Navin. Interviews by Nancy J. Tretter, 2006, Covington, Ky. Hicks, Jack. “At Parish Kitchen, Kindness Takes No Holiday,” KP, December 25, 1998, 1K. Kreimer, Peggy. “Nourishing Body and Mind,” KP, January 29, 2005, 1K.
Nancy J. Tretter
PARKER, ANNA VIRGINIA (b. March 28, 1889, Ghent, Ky.; d. March 23, 1979, Ghent, Ky.). Anna V. Parker, the daughter of Belvierd D. and Susan Ferguson Sanders Parker, was a family historian. Her father was a native of North Carolina; her mother was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Eliza Lathrop Sanders. Never married, Anna Parker became educated and was a grade school teacher in Carroll Co. for many years. She lived with her brother, Will Parker, in Ghent. Anna Parker collected original letters, diaries, manuscripts, and documents relating to her greatgrandfather Lewis Sanders and his family estate,