EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 257 



to these remarks from the fact that, although of the flock we are first 

 to notice there was kept an apparently strict and painstaking account 

 from the day the first full-blood sheep was purchased in 1813 until 1830, 

 there is yet some doubt and much controversy concerning some of the 

 blood in it. 



Stephen Atwood, of Woodbury, Conn., was in 1806-7 a young man 

 in the employ of Youuglove Cutler, and Mr. Cutler had a flock of pure 

 Humphreys sheep. At the expiration of his service with Mr. Cutler 

 young At wood purchased a ewe, and he offered to work a year longer 

 for a ram. Whether the ewe was of full blood or not is unknown, but 

 in his memorandum book we find entries in October and November, 

 1810, and in October, 1811, showing that he had several half-blood and 

 three-quarter-blood ewes which he bred to full-blood Merino rams 

 owned by Dr. B. Stoddard and Daniel Bacon; also that he had at least 

 two half-blood rams that he turned in with his ewes. He had at this 

 time probably no full-blood ewes, but he had use of full-blood rams and 

 probably owned one. In June, 1813, he purchased a ewe from the flock 

 of Col. Humphreys. He writes Henry S. Bandall that he bought this 

 ewe of Col. Humphreys for $120, and put her to a ram "that Young- 

 love Cutler bought of Col. Humphreys in 1807." In 1844 Mr. Atwood 

 said that he purchased a ewe from the flock of Col. Humphreys and 

 put her to bucks in his immediate neighborhood, and her descendants 

 to bucks raised from Humphreys ewes until about 1829 or 1830, since 

 which time he used bucks of his own raising. In his memoranda he 

 says: " Bought of John Biggs in June, 1813, one full-blooded ewe 6 

 years old, and put her to W. K. Lampson's full-blood buck, and in the 

 spring following she had twins, one ram and one ewe lamb. 7 ' This was 

 generally accepted as the origin of Mr. Atwood's flock, although there 

 are some who take exceptions to the Biggs ewe, and call attention to 

 the fact that the age of the Biggs ewe at its purchase corresponds to 

 the age of the ewe purchased of Younglove Cutler, and that no proof 

 can be offered that the purchase was ever made of Biggs. But, as 

 just said, it was generally accepted that the foundation of the Atwood 

 Merino was the Biggs ewe bre:l to Humphreys bucks and their 

 descendants to other Humphreys blood. In the Ohio Merino Sheep 

 Begister (1885) there is printed a letter written by Mr. Atwood in 1853, 

 in which he enlarges on the purchase of the Biggs ewe, and adds : " I 

 bought said (Biggs) ewe, and in 1819 I bought from the Lemuel Stone 

 flock, that he raised from Col. Humphreys' flock, five ewe lambs that 

 I selected, and with these five lambs and the ewe I bought first I have 

 raised my flock of sheep." Controversy has been carried on regarding 

 the flock, which we purpose to avoid. The full-blooded buck used on 

 the Biggs ewe in 1813, and owned by W. K. Lampson, has been the 

 subject of some controversy. It was purchased by Mr. Lampson of 

 Daniel Bacon, and Mr. Bacon purchased him of Abraham Heaton for 

 * .;.".() at the sale of the sheep arriving by the Bellona, at New 

 22990 17 



