CHAPTER VII. 



THE SHEEP HUSBANDRY OF OHIO, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN, AND 



WISCONSIN. 



OHIO. 



The pioneer sheep of Ohio came from Connecticut, ^N"ew Jersey, and 

 Virginia, and were the common or so-called native sheep raised in those 

 States and generally in the East before the introduction of the Spanish 

 Merino and the improved English breeds. Those from Virginia were 

 the best, and were of the Leicester type. These early sheep were raised 

 almost entirely for their wool, which was worked up around the family 

 hearth into the strong and durable raiment of the pioneer settler. 



The first Merino sheep taken into Ohio were those imported by Seth 

 Adams in 1801 and their descendants, numbering about 25 or 30 in 

 1807, at which time they were taken from Massachusetts to Muskingum 

 County, Ohio. Subsequently some of these were sold to parties in the 

 State and in Kentucky. They received much attention, and, as else- 

 where stated, were the cause of a newspaper proposition that the banks 

 should be taxed to assist in procuring improved breeds and to provide 

 for their care and increase. In 1809 Israel Putnam, of Marietta, bought 

 of Mr. Adams some full-blood Merinos and founded a flock, which was 

 continued by his son, L. J. P. Putnam. Whether these were from the 

 Massachusetts flocks can not be determined, for, in 1809 and 1810, Mr. 

 Adams, as agent for Col. Humphreys, disposed of many of the latter's 

 sheep throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and other parts of the 

 South and West, and the Putnam purchase may have been Humphreys 

 sheep. Most of these, however, were half-bloods. These sheep, as far 

 as known, laid the foundation of no flocks, although they are credited 

 with making an improvement in some localities. Israel Putnam, who 

 bought some full-bloods of Mr. Adams in 1809, was an extensive pur- 

 chaser of Humphreys sheep in 1810. With Capt. Paul Fearing he 

 introduced many of these into southern Ohio, paying as high as $300 

 for a ram; and it is said that Col. Humphreys, in 1811, sold a ram for 

 1,600 acres of Ohio land to Capt. Fearing and B. I. Gilmau, of Mari- 

 etta, and this ram laid the foundation for a flock which was kept up 

 many years. 



On June 13, 1811, Dr. Increase Matthews, of Putnam, Ohio, bought 

 an Infautado rani and two ewes, just imported into Alexandria, Va., and 

 had them taken in a wagon to his farm in Ohio, where he kept up a pure 



flock until about 1850. 



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