EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 595 



30 select ewes from the flock of Charles Or ainp ton, Du Page County, 111. 

 Tin's (lock was originally purchased for Mr. Crampton by Daniel Kelley. 



In 1864 F. E. Day, of Washburn, began the formation of a flock by 

 a purchase, in company with C. W. Mason, of 5 pure-bred Atwood ewes 

 from the flock of Mr. E. Bridge, Woodstock, Vt., and of 24 Atwood 

 ewes from Edwin House. At the same time 24 Atwood ewes were pur- 

 chased from Henry House. Later in the same year Mr. Day purchased 

 ol' 1 lenry Thorp 10 yearling ewes, all Atwood blood, and 2 ewes of B. 

 J. Brown, St. Albans, Vt., also Atwood blood. These were bred to 

 pine of the best Atwood rams of Vermont. The flock was formed in 

 Vermont and taken to Illinois in the fall of 1868. 



George W. Hunt, of Greenwood, formed a flock in June, 1865, by the 

 purchase of 12 ewes and a ram from K. S. Colby, Hammond and 

 Atwood blood. In 1867 he purchased of Orin Ellsworth, New York, 

 '83 ewes, Hammond, Stickney, and Robinson blood. In 1874 he pur- 

 chased Kelley's ram, Captain Jack, and in 1877, 1878, and 1879 pur- 

 chased of E. N. Bissell, Vermont, 26 ewes and 3 rams of the Rich blood. 



In 1866 Messrs E. Peck & Sons, of Geneva, started a flock by the pur- 

 chase of 75 ewes of John R. Baker, of the same place, and of the ram Addi- 

 son Chief of E. N. Bissell, Vermont. In 1869 they purchased 50 select 

 ewes from the flock of J. S. and J. P. Town, of Batavia, HI. The Town 

 flock originated by a purchase of 10 ewes from Jonathan Dyke, of Crystal 

 Lake, 111., in 1847. Mr. Dyke bought 40 head from the pick of several 

 of the best Vermont breeders, and they were the first pure Spanish 

 Merino sheep introduced into Kane County. Six years after this pur- 

 chase, in 1875, Peck & Sous purchased the entire flock of William Balis, 

 of St. Charles, 111., which consisted of 95 ewes. These were Atwood, 

 Blakeslee, and Rhode Island sheep. In the same year they purchased 

 49 ewes of E. N. Bissell, of Vermont. Rams were purchased of E. N". 

 Bissell, Daniel Kelley, T. Stickney & Son, and J. T. and V. Rich. This 

 became a very superior flock, and the annual shearings, as noted in 

 subsequent pages, attest the great care with which it has been bred 

 and its great improvement. In 1890 it numbered over 1,900 head pure- 

 bred Merino sheep. 



The year 1865 marked an era of sheep shearing for heavy fleeces 

 throughout the United States, to which Illinois contributed its quota. 

 Of the public shearing at Catlin, Vermilion County, May 20, 1865, the 

 record is as here given : 



