EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 531 



Hervey became owner of and assumed management of the flock. Pur- 

 < liases of slice] were made from the then acknowledged best flock of 

 Spanish Merino sheep in. the country, and all the original flock which 

 had been bred on the farm and in possession of William H. Hervey for 

 over thirty years were disposed of and replaced by other sheep. 



There were many flocks formed from 1840 to 1860 and from every 

 variety of sheep, the Dickinson, the western Pennsylvania, and the Ver- 

 mont Merino, and grades of Saxon, French, and Silesians, the flocks in 

 181)1' running from 60 to 1,200 animals in number. The average of the 

 blood was about three-fourths Merino, and the wool had a high reputa- 

 tion for fineness of fiber, strength, and elasticity. 



The adjoining counties of Columbia, Belmont, and Monroe had flocks 

 of the same general character as Jefferson, beginning with the coarse 

 wood rangers, then improved from the Wells and Dickinson flocks, 

 mixed with the Saxon and French Merinos, which in time gave way to 

 the Spanish Merino and its later development, the Black-Top Merino. 



The counties of the Muskingum Yalley, directly west of the pre- 

 ceeding four river counties, derived their fine-wooled sheep from the 

 latter, and were mostly "of the Wells and Dickinson flocks, with addi- 

 tions from Washington and Beaver counties, Pa., and Brooke and 

 Hancock counties, Va. 



The earliest fine-wooled flocks of Stark County were those of Thomas 

 Botch. W. B. Dickinson, Adam Hildenbrand, and James McDowell, 

 already noticed. These determined the character of the early sheep of 

 the county, for nearly all subsequent flocks owed their foundation to 

 them and to additions from the flocks of western Pennsylvania. In 

 1832 Henry Everhard bought some ewes from Adam Hildenbrand, 

 which were raised from the Dickinson flock, and for the next twelve 

 years he used rams from Hildenbrand's flock; then, in 1844, he bought 

 a few Saxon ewes and one ram. He bred a few pure Saxons and crossed 

 some of the Dickinson sheep with them; but finding that his flock was 

 growing uneven, and seeing no great improvement, he sold out the 

 Saxon blood, including the crosses. In 1846 he bought a pure-bred 

 Dickinson ram from Thomas Noble, and continued to use his own 

 and other pure-bred Dickinson sheep to 1863, at which time he had a 

 full-blood flock of 22 rams and 300 ewes. Some of the best flocks of 

 the county have been improved by sheep from his flock. From 1837 

 to 1850 not a great many new flocks were formed, but at the latter 

 date, when the flocks of the county were about half-blood Spanish 

 Merino and some Saxony, there began an improvement in the flocks 

 and an increase in their number, and many Vermont Merinos were 

 brought into the county. In 1851 W. M. Cunningham obtained from 

 the flock of Thomas Xoble 130 head, 60 of which were choice breeding 

 ewes. In the same year he purchased of James Patterson, of Tusca- 

 rawas County. 15.S head, and about the same time he bought of Henry 

 O. Gifibrd, of Vermont, 10 ewes and 2 rams of the Hammond stock, 



