116 A HISTORY OF THE PEECHERON HORSE 



1856 Dr. Brown sold the horse to Bigelow & Marshall, 

 who removed him to the town then called Pleasant 

 Valley but now known as Plain City. There the 

 stallion achieved a splendid reputation, begetting 

 an amazingly numerous progeny and finally passing 

 into the hands of the late Thomas Jones, father of 

 C. M. Jones, now treasurer of the Percheron Society 

 of America and resident on the old homestead. In 

 his possession Normandy died in 1874 full of years 

 and honors, having been owned by Mr. Jones just 

 ten years. Many good stallion colts as well as fillies 

 remained after him, and his descendants were widely 

 disseminated. 



While at Plain City Normandy became variously 

 known as "Pleasant Valley Bill," "Old Bill," and 

 "The Valley Horse," the title by which he is best 

 remembered being the first of these. Few people 

 knew that his real name was Normandy 351. He 

 did more than any other horse to popularize the 

 French type in the state that reaped the benefit of 

 his ser\dces. He was extraordinarily prolific and is 

 known to have begotten as many as 110 colts for 

 which the fees were paid in a single season. Of 

 his extreme fertility the late Thomas Jones is quoted 

 in Volume 1 of the Percheron Stud Book of America 

 as having said: 



"It is safe to say that he averaged sixty colts a 

 year for eighteen years and that they sold at three 

 and four years old for an average of $200, many of 

 them having brought $500 each, and some as much 

 as $1,000. It was when the United States govern- 

 ment began scouring the country for good horses 



