of these sheep led to the industrialization of Seymour.
    While Colonel Humphreys was in Madrid he wrote to an old friend, Dr. Timothy Davis, and asked him to find a good location for a farm. It was the intention of Humphreys to import Merino sheep to Connecticut to establish a farm for himself and to encourage other American farmers to improve their abilities to provide the necessities of the new nation. Humphreys purchased a flock of twenty-five rams (males) and seventy-five ewes (females) from one to two years old. With special permission from the Spanish government and with a small escort of Portuguese soldiers, the flock was driven across Spain and Portugal to Lisbon, where on April 10, 1802, they were boarded on the ship Perseverance, bound to New York. The journey lasted nearly fifty days, with a loss of four rams and five ewes.
    In New York, his sheep were transferred to a sloop bound for Derby, where their arrival created a great excitement. It is said that farmers from near and far came to Derby to view the sheep, who were housed at a place known as "Squabble Hole," where they recovered from their voyage. Humphreys is said to have enjoyed talking with the farmers who came to see the flock, and as interest in the Merinos spread, the Colonel agreed to sell some of the sheep. It is a tradition that the sheep were sold below Humphreys' original cost, at $100 each, to those progressive farmers who were anxious to try the experiments in breeding and feeding suggested by Humphreys.
    As interest in the breed mounted, prices reached four hundred dollars, when Colonel Humphreys refused to sell, as he was opposed to speculation in the breed. It is reported, however, that prices eventually ran as high as two thousand dollars for a Humphreys merino ram.
    The question as to whether these merinos were the first imported to the United States has been raised, as many area persons maintain that Humphreys was the first. However, it appears that Humphreys was wrong when he assumed that his were the first to reach America.
    From the book, The Life and Times of David Humphreys, Soldier, Statesman, Poet, "Beloved of Washington," by Frank Landon Humphreys, comes the following paragraphs: