FIBST FRENCH HORSES IN AMERICA 125 



of Snowdrop being the only progeny alleged to have 

 descended from them. Nothing more is related of 

 the stallion Chartres and as the compiler of the stud 

 book working indef atigably forty years ago was un- 

 able to unearth other data, no more space need be 

 occupied in their behalf. The bare facts, however, 

 are interesting as showing that the home-raised 

 stock of purebreds was slowly being augmented and 

 as tending to fix definitely the identity of Duke of 

 Normandy 172 and Gray Billy. Of the Maryland 

 importations of 1853 it may then be fairly said that 

 they left no sign so far as has been discovered up to 

 this late day. 



Rollin Imported in 1856.— By the spring of 1856 

 the few colts left by Louis Napoleon in Ohio had 

 begun to display their merit and Erastus Martin, 

 who had originally purchased the gray stallion near 

 Rouen, in company with John Gordon, also of Wood- 

 stock, 0., conceived the idea that a bay French horse 

 would take well where the lighter color had failed 

 of popularity. Accordingly an order for a bay stal- 

 lion was dispatched by some of the stock buyers 

 searching for Merino sheep in France and in due 

 course of time the dapple-bay stallion Eollin 418 

 landed at Woodstock. Great preparations had been 

 made for his reception on the Gordon farm, a new 

 stable having been built during the summer for his 

 occupancy. This shows that a hearty welcome await- 

 ed the newcomer and high hqpes were entertained 

 that he would prove a mighty ^uccess. Mr. Gordon 

 had been associated in the last Ohio ownership of 



