MID-WEST PIONEERS 167 



showring and good advertisers, and by reason of 

 their prestige and influence in central Illinois in a 

 business and political sense they exerted a strong 

 influence on draft horse breeding. They were not 

 particular, however, to hold strictly to Percheron 

 type and bought many useful horses of other French 

 derivation. They emphasized great weight, massive- 

 ness, and ruggedness, and placed rather less impor- 

 tance upon quality, finish, and action. They led the 

 faction which held that all horses coming from 

 France should be grouped as one breed, to be called 

 "French Draft," and this divergence in views later 

 caused a split in the ranks of the men who were 

 forwarding Percheron horse-breeding interests in 

 America. 



Ohio Breeders of the '70 's. — While the most ag- 

 gressive Percheron campaign was being waged in 

 Illinois, Ohio 's breeders were not idle. Andrew Gill 

 and Thomas Jones & Son, at Plain City, and H. L. 

 "Wood, at Piqua, bred a total of 17 Percherons during 

 this decade. Thomas Jones was the leading breeder. 

 His operations were really started in 1864 by the 

 purchase of Normandy 351 (Pleasant Valley Bill) 

 from Timothy Bigelow. Doll 540 (imported) was 

 bought in 1866 and her filly, Rose 604, foaled in 1866, 

 was retained, though Doll and her next foal, a filly, 

 were sold in 1867 to Gill & Woods for $1,000. From 

 Rose 604 came three recorded fillies, foaled in 1869, 

 '70, and '71, all sired by Normandy 351. These four 

 mares were subsequently bred to Ajax 5, a very good 

 big horse, imported in 1871 by the Delaware Import- 



