Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-07-16
FLORA TEMPLE. WAS SHE A MES
SENGER2


SENGER2
1t has been for Il long time evident that
the enterprising Messenger Brigade was
making a move to capture and place in
their service the famous Flora Temple
q 10 30, the first animal that ever
achieved a record in 2:20 or better. 1t
has long been known hat she was got
by "A son of a horse called Kentucky
Hunter. bred in New Hartford, Oneida
Co., y. V, by j. Il /. Sheriff. it vas
long said that the sire of Flora was "One
Eyed Kentucky Hunter" but a letter
from her breeder, James Welch of Reeds
burgh. Wis. published in the February
number, 1878. of Wallace'S MoRthly. es-
tablished the fact that Flora Temple was
by Bogus Hunter. another son of the same
kentucky Hunter. a letter published
Il month later from John l.. Peck of
Bloomington. y. Y. gave the further
Information that Flora's dam. Madam
Temple. was bred by his father and was
out of "a bay mare. bob-tailed, low-set
and heavy. with black points. She was
very smart and would weigh about 1850
to 1913 pounds" This mare. it will be
remembered, is the one that Mr.. f. A..
Weir claims was by Clifford Morgan and
was stolen by the LOOMS boys from the
vicinity of Royalton, VT. and taken to
York State. All that Mr.. Peck claims to
know of her origin is that she was pur-
chased by his father of IA Mr.. Randall.
The sire of Madam Temple is not known
further than that he was probably a spot
ted horse owned by one Horace Terry.
Highlander. sire of Kentucky Hunter.
was taken by Julius Watkins from Con-
~necticut 10 Whitestown. Oneida Co.. y.
V. when he moved there about lN2l.
The horse was called "Watkins' Highlan-
der" and "Watkins' Young Highlander"
and was a bay horse of very lofty car
riage and tine style, standing about
Is II hands. His pedigree was not full
ly settled. and became of great interest
from the fact that he sired not only the
grandsire of Flora Temple, but also both
the sire Cor grandsire) and the dam of
the celebrated A~leXander's Edwin For
rest. founder of the trotting family of
that name.
Ii seems to have been pretty generally
conceded in early times, while Julius
Watkins was yet alive, that Watkins
Highlander was by the imported thor
oughbred Brown Highlander, which was
brought into Connecticut about 1897. His
name. and the fact hat Mr.. Watkins
brought him from that State at the right
time. are circumstances tending to render
this breeding extremely probable. At
the same time We have long been aware
that the facts were not so sure but that
some eminent pedigree-maker would
eventually arise to show that he was 'by
II son of imported Messenger" according
TO the well-knOwn formula, and thus
hang the scalp of the invincible Flora
and those of the numerous champions of
the Edwin Forrest family at the belt of
the old gray hero of Long Island.
In the mean time the Messenger apos-
ties have worked Zealously to keep all
avenues open, so that their favorite blood
need not be excluded, even if they should
fail to capture the main line, and their
efforts in this direction have often been
amusing. For instance, it had been
claimed that The dam of old Kentucky
Hunter was a running mare from Ken
lucky, whence the name. Mr.. +. \.
Weir, to whom Mr.. Wallace acknowl-
edges himself indebted for the first true
statement and proof of the sire of Flora
Temple, sent him an old advertisement,
dated 1887, of Kentucky Hunter, the fol
lowing part of which with a little more
Mr.. Wallace gives in the January mum
Der, 1873, of his magazine:
kentucky Hunter was bred by J.. &
l.. Sheriff. of New Hartford, Oneida
county, New York his dam was "A high
blooded Southern mare whose pedigree
might be traced to the first blOoded hors-
es in the Southern States. He was by
Highlander, who was out of Col. Tai
madge's full-bred mare, Nancy Daw-
son. etc.
This pedigree was uttered by one Will
liam Ferguson and the balance of it, as
given, is a wild and imaginary mixture.
But the curious point is that the Ian
guage used in respect to the dam, "a
high-blooded Southern mare" seemed to
Mr.. Wallace utterly to exclude and dis
prove the proposition that she could have
been from Kentucky. Commenting up
on this point he sagaciously observes
''There is one new feature to which We
call particular attention. Not one word
is said about the dam being by Henry OF
Sir Henry, or of her coming from Ken
lucky and thus giving the name of her
State to her son. She is simply called "a