42 
STOCK OF PETER A. REMSEN, ESQ. 
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
STOCK OF PETER A. REMSEN, ESQ. 
The western part of the State of New York 
has, for some years, possessed several large herds 
of cattle of great excellence. Among the largest 
and best for a long time, was that of Peter A. 
Remsen, Esq., of Alexander, Genesee county. 
This gentleman has, during the present autumn, 
removed with a large reserved lot of his herd as 
it stood in 1842, (having sold from it, as a draft, 
some one hundred and twenty-five head during 
1842 and 1843,) to Maryland, where he proposes 
making his future residence. His departure to a 
distant state, and to a home among strangers, 
prompts me to a notice of himself and his stock, 
due alike to both, that his neighbors among whom 
his new lot is cast, may know how Mr. Remsen and 
his stock were valued by those whom he has left, 
and among whom for many years he and his 
family dwelt. The prize-list of the late State 
Agricultural Show has heralded his cattle abroad, 
and, of course spread their fame in advance of 
themselves to their place of destination. Their 
success, so widely known, carries with it a high 
recommendation ; and this might render any no¬ 
tice unnecessary, had any agricultural paper, 
either of itself or through its correspondents, giv¬ 
en any account of his herd, or had his imported 
cattle and their descendants been placed on rec¬ 
ord. This not having been done, allow me to do 
it, and at the same time, seize the occasion to 
speak of him as a man, as well as a breeder. 
Mr. Remsen, although a northerner, was for 
many years resident in Alabama, and mostly at Mo¬ 
bile. Engaged largely in trade, he yet possessed 
and cherished a fondness for stock, the result of 
early occupation and education, and his wealth was 
used as a means of gratifying his tastes. In 1831 
he purchased a large estate in Genesee county ; it 
was most judiciously selected, just at the base of 
the hills which form the grazing country of the 
south part of the county, and at the head of the 
alluvial valley of the Tonawanda, covering both 
the valley and the last spurs of the subsiding 
hills. Here the upland has lost its exclusive 
grass-growing character, and is equally adapted 
to the production of hay and grain. Its position 
is Commanding, giving views of great extent and 
beauty. From the uplands beautiful brooks of 
the purest water Aoav down in profusion upon 
the intervale. Upon it he erected a noble man¬ 
sion, a fine feature in the landscape as viewed 
from the vale below, and looking down on 
that vale of beauty, each adding to the charm of 
the other. Here Mr. Remsen made his summer 
residence, and his family their permanent one. 
With an enterprise worthy of his means and his 
tastes, he ordered from England the nucleus of a 
herd of cattle. The commission was for the best, 
without imitation of price. The execution of 
the order was intrusted to Mr. Wilson, to whom 
it was given, to Mr. Samuel Scotson of Toxteth 
Park, Lancashire, a breeder, widely and favora¬ 
bly known. Mr. Scotson, through his friend Mr. 
Robert Thomas of Engholme, near Darlington, 
procured a bull and a heifer, bred by Mr. May¬ 
nard of Harsley Hall, Yorkshire. From Mr. Sev¬ 
ers of Richmond, in the same county, was pur¬ 
chased another heifer ; and to these was added a 
selection from the herd of Mr. Scotson, consisting 
of a young bull and a heifer. This importation 
was made in 1834. At a subsequent period, Mr. 
Remsen increased the number by a heifer from 
the herd of the Rev. Henry Berry, and a heifer 
from another source in England, which, however, 
died without produce. To these was added a se¬ 
lection of American bred cattle. With such ma¬ 
terials for an origin, a herd large in number, 
beautiful, and choice, soon spread itself over his 
fine lawns, alluvial meadows, and swelling hills. 
At once, was Mr. Remsen among the first breed¬ 
ers of New York, indeed, of the country at large ; 
and richly was the sagacious enterprise which 
created all, rewarded. His tastes were gratified, 
and his investment profitable ; his pleasures and 
his interests at once coincident. An immediate 
demand sprang up, and so great was it, and so 
superior were even his grades, that he repeatedly 
sold them for prices as high as thorough-breds 
would command; and this demand continued un¬ 
til the present depressed value of cattle checked 
all desire and inducement to rear or acquire 
stock, either crossed or pure. In all this Mr. 
Remsen had a most capital assistant in his inter¬ 
esting wife. Like him she possessed a fondness 
for a rural life, for flocks and herds. Among them 
she found consolation for the absence of her hus¬ 
band, whose business yearly called him south, 
and for many months detained him there. In her 
he found a guardian to whom he could well in¬ 
trust them, assured that a taste congenial, an in¬ 
terest identical, and a judgment scarcely inferior 
to his own, would be ever watching over and 
superintending them, and of course in his neces¬ 
sary absence during the winter, the care and di¬ 
rection of the herd were hers. As a proof of her 
good management and tact, I may mention that 
she frequently sold grade cattle, both heifers and 
bulls at prices as high as $150. Added to this 
business ability in Mrs. Remsen, were all the 
charms which render the woman and the wife 
interesting—amenity, frankness, intelligence, and 
polish. Is not this a wife indeed ? 
Among Mr. Remsen’s selection of grade cattle 
in the formation of his herd, were some cows 
with a Devon and Short-Horn cross. They were 
the get, in part, of the fine Devon bull Holkam, 
bred by the late William Patterson, Esq., of 
Baltimore, from the herd of the late Earl of 
Leicester (formerly Mr. Coke) ; in part, of the 
Otto bull, a Short Horn ; and, in part, the get of 
Holkam upon the cows got by the Otto Bull. 
From these Devon Short-Horns Mr. Remsen has 
reared oxen and steers whose equals are rarely, 
and whose superiors are never found. He has 
now a yoke of oxen six years old, (which received 
the first prize for working oxen at the State Show 
at Rochester), which have been worked every 
year since they were two years old, and have nev¬ 
er been fed anything but hay and**grass, that 
weighed 2,300 pounds each, in September last. 
It would be useless and too prolix to attempt an 
enumeration of all his cattle, full-bred and grades. 
