Cows Run Wild

            In the early days in North Carolina, free roaming livestock created problems for many farmers. Experiencing such troubles, Thomas Newby of Perquimans County sought relief from the Court in May 1846, indicating “there runs by his house and Through his lands a public road, though little used by any persons except himself, it being the road to a public landing on Little River & running from the Durant’s Neck Road, to the River — Your Petitioner shows your Worships That he is much annoyed by Stock going down this road to the swamp lying on the River, by their breaking into his fields, and enclosed grounds; and other damages, which he thinks he might remedy without inconvenience to any one by the erection of a gate across the said road … His petition was granted.”

1872 Wood engraving showing the Jersey Cow
From Prints Old and Rare
http://www.printsoldandrare.com/farmanimals/

[Perquimans County Historical Society Year Book, Hertford, NC, 1969]