FIRST SETTLERS AND EARLY HOME LIFE 



this was first set aside it was the common home pas- 

 ture, so to speak, and upon it ranged all the livestock 

 of the community. At evening the stock was driven 

 into this common and tethered or fenced there for 

 safety from Indians or wild beasts. This custom of 

 letting the livestock run at common gave rise to fre- 

 quent disputes concerning the ownership of such ordi- 

 nary stock as sheep, pigs and cattle, until the town fa- 

 thers decreed that each owner should have a registered 

 ear mark. These were duly recorded, and in many a 

 quaint volume of town records bound in pigskin may 

 one read as follows : 



"John Bird's ear mark for his creatures is a cross on 

 the off ear taken out." 



"Hezikier Culver's ear mark for his creatures is a 

 half penny in the underside of the near ear." 



"Saml Smedley's ear mark for his creatures is a hole 

 in each ear." 



"Samual Root, his ear mark for his creatures is a 

 cross in the off ear and a half penny in the underside of 

 the same." 



As the marks on record increased the style of the 

 marking became more complicated, as indicated by the 

 following: 



"Nathan Mitchel, his ear mark for his creatures is a 

 cross cut on the off ear and a slit in the cross of the near 

 ear and a slit in the underside of the near ear." 



