Animal control became a concern in Union early in its history. At a town meeting on December 25, 1738, Alexander McNall, Union’s first settler, was chosen fence viewer, and Amos Stickney and W. Robert Paul were continued as branders and pound keepers for the ensuing year. Records of June 26, 1769 show a motion at the town meeting to build a pound on or near the site of the old pound. The first pound was likely made of wood, but by 1769 stone had become more common as timber grew scarce in many New England towns. When Union was incorporated on October 10, 1734, the Connecticut General Assembly assigned the town brand for horses. Livestock could also be identified by registered earmarks, and in the late 1730’s twelve different earmarks were recorded in Union. In England, most livestock was watched by individual herders, but in New England labor was too scarce for that except for the most valuable animals, while swine, goats, and dry cattle often roamed freely and threatened crops. As a result, the town voted to build a stone pound for stray animals, thirty feet square, six feet high, four feet thick at the bottom, eighteen inches at the top, and finished with timber around the top, to be completed within three weeks.