414 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Many of the people in Amesbury and Salisbury, in Essex Co., 

 Massachusetts, about the Merrimac river, came from Wiltshire in 

 the southern and western part of England. The first settlements 

 were made here prior to 1640. They brought in with them at 

 that time the Wiltshire cattle, which were the Long-horns, crossed 

 on the Alderneys, the Devons and the Herefords with occasion- 

 ally a strain of the Welsh cattle. 



Salisbury, in Essex county, was named from the old town of 

 Salisbury situated in the south of England. The county of 

 Wiltshire lies east of Dorsetshire and Somersetshire, and south of 

 Gloucestershire. It is fifty-three miles long, and embraces quite 

 a large territory. 



While the inhabitants who first settled Andover, in the county 

 of Essex, came from old Andover, in the county of Hampshire, 

 bordering on the English Channel, opposite France, many of the 

 settlers of this town came in direct from England, bringing with 

 them their cattle, and among the rest a race called, at that day, 

 the Hampshire ox. This animal was closely allied to the Sussex, 

 was crossed upon the Alderneys as well as the south Devons and 

 the Wiltshire Long-horns, producing a large, strong animal, good 

 for beef, work and milk; the color was generally red. 



This part of England was formerly the resort of many of the 

 early Saxons, who originated in the mountain country^in a region 

 about the head waters of the river Elbe, in the middle of Europe, 

 in Saxony and Bohemia. Indeed we may go to the highlands on 

 the continent of Europe, north of Italy, through Austria, Bohe- 

 mia and Bavaria, for the race of cattle which prevailed in England 

 in early periods of its history. The Devon cattle were brought 

 into England by the Saxons; but the Welsh cattle were an ori- 

 ginal stock. 



The best cattle are mountain animals, and they do not improve 

 in health by being sent to the lowlands, marshes and plains for 

 breeding and pasturage. The town of Bilericay, in Middlesex 

 county, Massachusetts, was named from the old town of Bilericay, 

 in the county of Essex, in England. This is a beautiful, fertile 

 and maritime county, bounded east by the ocean, south by the 

 river Thames, which separates it from the county of Kent. In 



