Marston Sheep Farm | ||
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| Like many farmers in the Connecticut River Valley, Jerimiah Jr. Marston began to raise sheep after 1830. The Merino sheep arrived in Weathersfield, Vermont, when a former diplomat to Spain, William Jarvis, imported a large herd and began to sell the offspring. The Merino sheep boom spread throughout the Connecticut River Valley including Orford. Numerous farmers abandoned large crop production and cleared expansive tracts of forested land for sheep grazing. Farms consolidated as farmers purchased neighboring plots. Numerous small mills opened and many existing ones converted to cleaning and carding the wool. In 1820 the number of sheep on Orford’s farms was so insignificant that they were not taxed. By 1840 things had changed dramatically. Marston’s land was renamed the Marston Sheep Farm, and, according to tax records, Marston’s seven sheep in 1830 had grown to a herd of 360 by 1839. However, by the next year his flock had dropped to 226 heads as the sheep farming boom drew to a close. The Tariff Act of 1833 resulted in declining wool prices, and western production proved to be too much competition. Jerimiah Jr’s brother, Gilman Marston, was not interested in sheep farming. He graduated from Dartmouth College and became a lawyer and a Representative to Congress. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the Civil War and fought in numerous battles including Gettysburg, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. After the war he emigrated west and in 1870 he was appointed governor of Idaho. Activity: Orford's Changing Agricultural Landscape | ||
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Morrison Farm | ||
| The Marston farm was eventually sold to Harry Morrison. Pictured here is the gravestone of Harry Morrison parents buried at the Dame Hill Cemetery. In the 1870 census young Harry, age 2 is living with his grandparents, Stephen and Adaline Merrill along with his parents Samuel and Adaliza Morrison. On the 1892 Hurd’s map, the Merrill and Morrison property can be seen on the north side of Mt. Cube in what will become the future home of the former Governor Meldrin Thomson. |
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| By 1915, Morrison became one of the largest owners of Hereford cattle in New England. The Hereford breed had been created in England to meet the demand for a high yield beef cattle. The breed was imported to the United States in 1817 and rapidly became popular. Tragically, the barn pictured here burned in 1937 and the Morrison land was eventually sold at auction. |  | |
