The History of Windham NH
  • Home
  • History
  • Historic Views
  • Windham Playhouse
  • Searles
  • Cobbett's Pond
  • About

The great merino sheep craze

8/1/2015

1 Comment

 
The woodlands of New England are littered with miles of stonewalls that are some of the only remaining relics of the once burgeoning sheep market throughout the region. As a result of the War of 1812, the US instituted an embargo on English goods, cutting off the main supply of wool. At the time, and to this day, one of the highest grades of wool came from the Merino sheep. However, at the turn of the 19th century, the world's supply of Merino sheep was located in Portugal, which prohibited their exportation until William Jarvis, the US consul to Portugal, brought 4,000 of the sheep to his farm in Vermont. This small number of sheep grew exponentially in a boom that has since been known as the Merino Sheep Craze.
Picture
Satellite view of sheep pen outline (Image courtesy of WIndham HD/HC)
By 1824 there were almost half a million sheep in Vermont; sixteen years later the number had grown to over 1.7 million. The craze was not limited to Vermont; the Merino wool industry boomed throughout the New England states. It is recorded that in 1840 there were about 600,000 Merino sheep in New Hampshire (information from the Concord Monitor) Some of those sheep grazed upon the hilltop meadows of Windham. The only significant remnant of the sheep craze in Windham lies on the Gage Conservation Lands where an approximately 34 acre former grazing land is bounded by a square of stone walls approximately a few feet in height.
Picture
A small portion of the outer walls (Image courtesy of Windham HD/HC)
     Constructed by David Gregg sometime between 1807 and 1815, most likely closer to the latter date, the pen was built to measure approximately 1,200 feet on each side (measured using Google Earth). Gregg was born on October 15, 1750. He fought in the Revolutionary War and there is an interesting anecdote about his service that was recorded by Leonard A Morrison:
                       "He was in the battle of Bennington, and had his thumb shot off. When the 
                        battle was raging he felt a stinging sensation in his thumb, and the smoke
                        was so thick he could hardly see; he put his thumb in his mouth, and found 
                        it hanging by a piece of skin; he bit it off, and kept on fighting, with a
                        determination to come off victorious, or die upon the field 'with his face to
                        the foe'. He was afterwards offered captaincy, but declined it. He received 
                        his commission of lieutenant after the war."
He married his cousin, Jane Gregg, daughter of Captain David and Ann Gregg on February 12, 1784. Morrison recorded that the land David lived upon was part of the original grant to the Gregg family and he was the first one to actually occupy the land. Jane died in 1812 and David married Sally Clyde about two years later. It is recorded by Morrison that David, "took care of his parents in their old age; was made an elder of the church. He was a good man but was unfortunate in the later years of his life, lost his property, and in his old age was dependent upon the charity of his friends and the town"; David died in 1831. In 1815, David sold his property to his son, John, and that deed is the first time the meadow (by definition "permanent pastures", hence often being enclosed by walls) is ever mentioned as existing on the land. In 1828 John Gregg sold the land to Jesse Gibson of Pelham, NH, who sold it in 1838 to Asa Buttrick of Lowell, MA. By the time Buttrick had purchased the land the great sheep craze was just beginning to come to an end.
Picture
Corner of sheep pen (Image courtesy of Windham HD/HC)
1 Comment
Roy Jensen
9/18/2015 10:59:45 pm

I walk this land every day w/ my dogs. While tracking my dogs w/ my gps I noticed the perfectly squared dimensions of the stone walls and was curious how they came to be. I'm so happy to find this very interesting story that took place in my backyard.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Derek Saffie is an avid Windham historian who enjoys researching and sharing his collection with all those interested in the history of the New England town.
    ​

    Archives

    November 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All
    Anniversaries
    Drucker's Store
    Featured Stories
    Indian Rock
    Robert Dinsmoor
    W S Lamson Farm

© 2015-2019 Derek Saffie. All Rights Reserved.