Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 24 · column 4 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
In the early days of the evolution of the thoroughbred as a breed, record-keeping was haphazard because horses were seldom named until they proved outstanding ability.
Some horses changed names as they passed from one owner to another and mares were often not named at all, being referred to as the dam (or mother) of some famous horse, or the daughter of another. This was especially confusing since a popular stallion was very likely to have more than one daughter!
Most damaging, though, were wars and fires which took their toll on countless stud farm books, and even killing those people who knew about the animals.
In 1791, an Englishman named James Weatherby compiled the first volume of the General Stud Book, using privately kept records and diligent research. He listed 387 mares, each of whom could be traced back to Eclipse, a direct descendant of the Darley Arabian; Matchem, a grand£:
96.0%