STEVENSON, Alexander Campbell - M.D. - Putnam

Stevenson, Alexander C. Ky, 1802

Doctor Stevenson very early realized that our own livestock was not up to the requisite standard and that great improvement could be made by the introduction of some of the recognized pure breeds from abroad. He argued that with the abundance of luxuriant blue grass then in the country, great profits could be realized if only the right strain of stock was secured: and he proposed to his neighbors and friends that they combine and purchase the requisite stock in Europe and ship to this country. But, however favorably his neighbors were impressed with the idea, none, with a single exception, were willing to join him and he therefore embarked in the enterprise himself. July 2, 1853. he sailed from Philadelphia for England, where he spent some time traveling over the country, examining the various herds and studying the livestock question from every point of view. With the primitive and inconvenient arrangements on shipboard and elsewhere for shipping cattle across the Atlantic in that day, it was not only an expensive but more or less hazardous undertaking. The Indiana State Journal and the Indiana Farmer published numerous letters from the Doctor in which he described his journey and the many strange and oftentimes interesting experiences that befell him. He bought stock here and there, mostly the short-horns and Durham cattle, and collected them at the town of Darlington. From the latter place he drove them across the country to Liverpool, where he secured passage for himself and proper shipping facilities for his stock on one of the west-bound vessels sailing from that port. The passage across the Atlantic in the fall was somewhat rough, but in due time he reached the United States without the loss of a single animal.

The arrival of the herd in Greencastle is chronicled in the Putnam Banner. There were two bulls: one named "Prince of Wales." was turned over to Joseph Allen, who was interested in the enterprise & the other. "Fancy Boy." was retained by Doctor Stevenson. There were also four heifers The Banner very significantly observes that "The cattle imported by Doctor Stevenson to this country are not for sale. They were purchased near Darlington, England, of three different breeders, are all beautiful roans, except one which is red, and are but distantly related, so that the produce may be sired together for some time to come." Doctor Stevenson also brought home with him from England two pigs of the Leicester breed, purchased from Robert Thornton of Stapleton. The boar he named "Prince Albert." In the columns of the Indiana Farmer the Doctor, recommending them to his farmer friends, is very enthusiastic in their praise. Describing them, he says: "In color they are white with an occasional small discoloration in the skin but none in the hair, it being uniformly white. The hair is fine, short and very thin over the body. The legs are short and straight and the bone small. The head is small and tapering to the nose, face straight, ears small and narrow, in many cases they are erect, in some they pitch a little forward. The body is long and finely barreled, being in the boar almost a cylinder. They have great depth through the shoulders and hips. The eye is lively and quiet. In disposition they are exceedingly quiet. They have a great propensity to take on fat at any age and their usual weight at twelve months old is from three hundred to three hundred and fifty pounds."