Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-11-13
BUSH MESSENGER.
JOSEPH BATTELL, Esq.

JOSEPH BATTELL, Esq,
Dear Sr:-Your issue of Oct. %, 1891.
asks me of Bush Messenger and his
sons. | would do anything IN my power
to help on your good work in matter of
the Morgan Horse and encouragement
of truthful predigrees generally. Re
garding Bush Messenger and his des-
pendants, have a great deal of valua-
BILE matter IN my old diaries, but when
moving from Rochester, y. Y, to Long
Island, June -, 1891, packed all val
liable data in cases, which are not yet
opened.
My memory is very good, and will
from it say to your readers that from
1922 to 1929 Bush Messenger was owed
in the township of East Bloomfield, on
tario county, y. Y, doing a large bust
ness in the stud annually; not only To-
cal. but mares from eastern New York
came yearly to the horse, with some
from the States of Massachusetts and
Vermont.
Most of his colts raised about East
Bloomfield went East as colts and some
few went West.
Edward Reynolds (known by the trav-
cling public in the old stage coaching
times from the east through to the west
as piper Reynolds) was a Scotch
Irishman, an immigrant. AS bag-plpe
player iand dance or ball room fiddler,
he was phenomenal. Soon after landing
in this country, he found there was mon
ey III his bag pipe and fiddle (violin) by
playing at stage coach houses. The
stage route from Boston and New York
city to Albany and so on west and south
west. through the State of New York,
was lined with stage houses, or taverns.
and from six 10 dozen and more six
horse stage teams passed each way daily.
1t is long story, those old staging DAYS
from the East to the West, from 1872 to
the opening of the Erie canal (then ridi-
culed as "DeWitt Clinton's DitchD. Pr
per Reynolds made a great deal of mon
ey by following the stage road back and
forth between Boston and New York
city to Canandaigua and East Bloom
field, where he struck the Six Nations of
Indians. His bag-pipe and fiddle"
playing soon made him great favorite
with the travelling public, and especially
so with the Indians in Ootario. Living
ston, and Genessee counties When i'm
the vicinity of the Indians they would
get up war dance to his playing, so
that passengers by stage coach would
often stop over for a night for a frolc
and Geneseo, or Batavia sixty miles
from Bloomtield).
think it was in 1871 that passenger
conceived the idea of taking some of the
young Indians East for exhibition
primitive Wild West show through
eastern New York ana New England:
Reynolds to do the music and the Indians
the war dancing and whooping, after the
manner of IA Barnum in later days.
To get these Indians for a season the
Chief of the tribe from whom they were
taken had to be paid so much per head
and agree to return within the wear
every Indian and squaw taken East
The Stules, Brons0nS, Coddings, Will
ders, Hayes and Gum families were
pioneers in townships of Bloomfield and
Bristol, from New England. In lS2O
Edward Reynolds bought nice farm
among these people.
In April 1922, when returning from
one Oh ms eastern trips. he brought the
horse Bush Messenger (then lG years
old and quartered him on his farm at
Mud creek, six miles west of Canandai-
qua, four miles from Bristol and two
miles from East Bloomfield Centre.
which Centre was then the famous stop-
over place between Albany and the great
unknown West and Southwest. The
families | have named were related bv
blood or marriage. and had married
into one of them and the farm purchas-
ed by Reynolds Joined that of one of nv
wife's relatives. 1t was on the State
road, or, as we called it, the great stage
route east and west.
Moses Egleston, whose letter you have
published, was the son of one of the
leading men of East and West Bloom
field, a miller, and one of the largest
landowners in the township. Moses
have known 40 years. Edward Rey-
nolds soon gave up his travelling, mar
ried and tried to settle down on his farm.
but the excitement of early days unified