Marks & Brands
Brenda Kellow
April 21, 2007
In addition to the Century Farms information in my column dated April 7, 2007, another valuable record available in the County Clerk’s Office is the volume on Marks and Brands. The clerk registers the marks and brands, and then they collect the fee for the process. Register entries usually include the name of the applicant and place of residence, a drawing of the brand symbol and description of the where it appears on the animal’s body, the date of registration, and the line number. The register is maintained for a specified number of years and then closed. A new register is then started for another specified time period. Marks and brands are recorded in each volume in the order in which it was applied.
To those living in cattle country, the more familiar of the two may be cattle brands, once used almost exclusively. Western movies tend to be the means for portraying cattle branding to the general public. In present day, branding irons have been replaced for marks appearing on the ear of cattle.
The branding iron is forged out of an iron bar with welded pieces on one end to form a pre-chosen and registered identification mark that distinguishes each rancher’s cattle grazing on the open range. The iron is heated until it is red-hot and placed on the hide of the animal. After barbed wire fenced the west, branding was generally abandoned for marks. A cut or clip at the end of the ear is generally the spot chosen for the mark or tattoo, the modern day cattle identification. It may be a geometrical shape cut into one or both ears, or an owner may even cut off a corner of the ear. Sometimes an identifying tag is attached to the ear in place of marks.
Following this means of identification in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland, the result identified the presence of a particular subject living there on specific dates. The date Robert Kadger filed his identification for his animals at the courthouse was January 25, 1650.
“Robert Kadger XE "Kadger" his marks for Cattle and hogs viz. the left Eare Cropt and too Slitts in the Crop, and the right Eare Slitt in the Middle only.”
Patent Series, p. 626, FHL #13063
Collin County has a register of marks and brands, although, sometimes in certain states, the marks and brands are found in the county’s agriculture agency. If you have not researched this seldom used record, please look for the book in you ancestors’ counties. I would like to hear from readers who use this source, and whether or not it has been beneficial.
BORDER CROSSING RECORDS ONLINE
Ancestry.com just released the Canadian and United States border crossing records on their homepage. This is the first appearance for this database online. It has more than four million names of individuals who crossed the border during the period between 1895 and 1956.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history and both teaches and lectures on genealogy. Send reunions, announcements, notices of books to review and other queries to: [email protected]. No research commissions are accepted.
To those living in cattle country, the more familiar of the two may be cattle brands, once used almost exclusively. Western movies tend to be the means for portraying cattle branding to the general public. In present day, branding irons have been replaced for marks appearing on the ear of cattle.
The branding iron is forged out of an iron bar with welded pieces on one end to form a pre-chosen and registered identification mark that distinguishes each rancher’s cattle grazing on the open range. The iron is heated until it is red-hot and placed on the hide of the animal. After barbed wire fenced the west, branding was generally abandoned for marks. A cut or clip at the end of the ear is generally the spot chosen for the mark or tattoo, the modern day cattle identification. It may be a geometrical shape cut into one or both ears, or an owner may even cut off a corner of the ear. Sometimes an identifying tag is attached to the ear in place of marks.
Following this means of identification in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland, the result identified the presence of a particular subject living there on specific dates. The date Robert Kadger filed his identification for his animals at the courthouse was January 25, 1650.
“Robert Kadger XE "Kadger" his marks for Cattle and hogs viz. the left Eare Cropt and too Slitts in the Crop, and the right Eare Slitt in the Middle only.”
Patent Series, p. 626, FHL #13063
Collin County has a register of marks and brands, although, sometimes in certain states, the marks and brands are found in the county’s agriculture agency. If you have not researched this seldom used record, please look for the book in you ancestors’ counties. I would like to hear from readers who use this source, and whether or not it has been beneficial.
BORDER CROSSING RECORDS ONLINE
Ancestry.com just released the Canadian and United States border crossing records on their homepage. This is the first appearance for this database online. It has more than four million names of individuals who crossed the border during the period between 1895 and 1956.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history and both teaches and lectures on genealogy. Send reunions, announcements, notices of books to review and other queries to: [email protected]. No research commissions are accepted.