Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-03-14

tnt DesJ TOduSleTS Ill lHe WoIlu, tildt
would seem to be glory enough for one
family. But they have such way of
going to the front in whatever they are
called on to do that it is further fact
that they have been very successful on
the trotting track as well. They have
not been bred, as have the IIambletonian
family, with the express intent to get
fast trotters for track purposes. but out
of the ranks of the gentlemen's roadsters
that have been produced in the Morgan
family have been eliminated from time
to time some of the very fastest and
gamest trotters that have ever graced
the American turf. From sherman
came his great son, Black Hawk, Il fast
trotter for those times and no doubt the
most perfect road horse of his day. He
was the sire of sherman Black Hawk
that got Vermont Hero, which in turn
sired Gen. Knox. that went to Maine and
established there a great road and trot-
Black Hawk also got King IIcrod, that
went west and there established family
of that name that has furnished some
star performers. But by far the great
est of the get of Vermont Black Hawk
was the famous bay beauty, Ethan Allen.
a horse that the whole country used to
go wild over, so swift and beautiful was
he. Black Hawk was toacd in 1888 !:
his great son, Ethan Allen, in 1919. The
dam of Ethan was bred by John Fields
of Chester. She was a small. highly fin
iShed gray mare, foaled in 1880, got by Il
small and very fine bay horse called
Robin. or Red Robin, whose breeding
has not been traced. The dam of this
gray mare was Il small brown mare bred
by John Fields and almost certainly an
inbred Morgan, the best testimony being
that she was a daughter of Woodbury.
from dam by Justin Morgan himself.
Ethan Allen. in form, carriage, color,
so far Il counterpart of the original Nor
gan that students of the blood, at the
head of whom stood and still stands
Joseph Battell, had long disbelieved
the manufactured story that this
famous gray mare, the dam of Ethan,
was by the Freeman Messenger. and felt
a strong assurance that when she should
be traced she would be found to he of
Morgan origin. After an expenditure
of months of time and hundreds of dol
lars in the search. Mr.. Battell at last
succeeded in tracing her to her breeder,
and getting a full history of her from
her birth to her latest day. The utmost
endcavors have, rs am informed. as
yet failed to ascertain to a certainty
Red ROBIN, her sire, horse, in the
words of man who owned and broke
the dam of Ethan-'Red Robin was as
beautiful Il horse IL you ever saw. as
supple as "A fox. as beautiful as Ethan
Allen, who looked very much like him.
Red Robin was bred down on the Con-
necticut River, at Weathersfield Bow. at Il
time when Justin Morgan himself stood
just across the bridge in Claremont, even
if he did not. which is more than prob
able. have station also on the Weathers-
field side. SO Red Robin had at least as
good an opportunity to be a son of the
original Justin Morgan rs of any other
horse. Mr.. Leland. who was the first
purchaser and breaker of the gray daugh-
ter OF Red Robin that was the dam of
Ethan, and who knew the horse well
and describes him perfectly, is very pos
tive that Red ROBIN was called Nor
gan. His size, color, build and charac-
teristics point very strongly to that ori-
gin but it Is not proven. and the most
we say is that the dam of Ethan Allen
was got by Red Robin. probably son
of Justin Morgan, from dam that was
almost certainly an inbred Morgan mare.
From this little gray mare, GRO, sed
with the horse that was then and always
the greatest grandson in the male line of
Justin Morgan, Vermont Black Hawk,
was born, on the 18th of June, 1919, lust
60 years after the birth of the founder of
the family, Ethen Allen, almost coun-
terpart of Justin Morgan himself save
that he was about a hand taller, and had
that astonishing trotting speed that his
great ancestor, if he ever possessed it.
never had an opportunity to show.
can do no better than to describe him in
the graphic language of S. w. Parlin of
the American Cultivator:
"No one ever raised a doubt as to his
being the handsomest and most perfect
ly gated trotter that has ever been pro-
duced. Horsemen all agree that no trot-
ter has ever appeared upon the turf that
excelled him in the style and beauty of his
action, whether moving at Jog or flying
at the rate of mile in 2:l5. His trot-
ting instinct was wonderfully strong
and his disposition the best imaginable.
two qualities which enabled him, when
hitched with running mate, to out
striD every cOmDetitor that oouId bo