Madison County History and Genealogy

History and Genealogy



History of Madison County


Stock Marks


From History of Madison County, Ohio, Chester E. Bryan, Supervising Editor, B.F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis (1915)

The first settlers, with the greater portion of the country in its wild and unimproved state, allowed their cattle, sheep and hogs to roam at large, and they were often not seen for weeks and months by their owners. It became necessary to protect settlers in their just claims to their own stock; to distinguish, beyond any doubt, one man's stock from that of his neighbor, and, to accomplish this, legislation came to their aid with a special law, declaring that each owner of stock, by having his special mark branded upon his stock, and having the same recorded with the township clerk of the township wherein he resided, should thus be protected in his ownership from any claims of any other person or persons, to the stock bearing the recorded mark. This privilege was early taken advantage of by the settlers of Deer Creek township and continued in active use for many years.

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