Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-08-05
THE DAM OF GEORGE WILKES.
is HER BREEDING KNOWN?


lContnced.
The alleged discovery of the common
ly-accepted pedigree of Dolly Spanker
has the history and rests upon the evil
dence and deductions following: In the
issue of Wallace's Monthly of February,
1878, under the title, 1.-The Dam of
George Wikes-Found at Last, the
editor, with much flourish of trumpets,
announces his great discovery. He be-
gins by saying, in substance, that IN
December. 1917, at the dinner of the
Breeders association at Delmonico's,
he found himself in conversation with
Mr.. Felter and Mr.. Simmons, the one
the breeder, the other the owner of
George Wilkes. They expressed them
selves as being hopeless as to ever find
ing the pedigree of Dolly Spanker, but
the sagacious philosopher of the Month
" intlmated that if Mr.. Felter
would let him know of whom he got
the mare, he. the philosopher, would
bend his giant intellect to the solution
of the problem. lie proceeds as fol-
lows:
From his old books Mr.. Felter had
informed us that he got the mare from
Mr. w. \. Delevan, and that Delevan
got her from Mr.. Jas. ). Lewis of &C.
neva, New York, who, some twenty-five
years ago, had been of the firm of Lewis
q Cobb, of that town. Surprising it
probable that Mr.. Lewis might be dead.
or removed from Geneva, we addressed
a note to him or his representatives, and
enclosed it in note to the postmaster
BY return mail we had a cheerful, pleas
ant letter of Mr.. Jas. >. Lewis, assuring
US that he was still living. and able and
willing to answer all questions that were
presented to him to the best of his abili-
ty. 1t was the letter of very intelli-
gent business man, without the least
indication of the RIGHTEOUSNESS or for
getfulness of age. In it he says:
some twenty-siX years since bought
brown mare of mare of a gentleman
bv the name of James Gilbert, then liv-
ing in the town of Phelps, in this coun-
ty, for a friend. and very soon after
sold her to w. 4. Delevan of New
York She was then about five years
old, a fine roadster, and could speed in
about 3 80. He took her to New ork
and after driving her some time sold her
to my esteemed friend Harry Felter. |
think she passed into the hands of his
father and met with an accident. She
was put to breeding and had a colt, by
Rysdyk's llambetonian, that grew up
to be the famous George Wilkes. For
the benefit of many persons in New
York, | lost no time in looking about
to learn the pedigree of the mare and of
the horse that got her. On seeing Gil
bert, learned that he got the mare of
an old man, who is now dead, by the
name of Josiah Philips of Bristol, in
this county. | lost no time in sending
a man who lived with us at the time, by
the name of John 5. Dey, to Bristol, to
get at all the facts in the mares pedi-
gree that he could get hold of. He
learned through Philips that the father
of this mare was the old Wadsworth
Henry Clay, owned for many years by
General Wadsworth of Genesee. There
is no mistake about this. as have since
learned from his neighbors that she was
a Clay colt. Philips further stated that
the mother of the mare was got by a
horse called Highlander, a good horse
and owned in that section of country
have no doubt about this, as there was
such horse in that section about tina,
time. This is all | am able to give YOU
in regard to the pedigree of the Feltel
mare at this time. When go to Bufla
10, where Gilbert now lives, | may bt
able to get at more facts in regard tC
your inquiry and if | can get hold of any
thing that will give you more light OF
the subject before | am down to New
York, | will drop into your office to see
you.
Very truly yours, etc,
j. 5. LEWIS
"The receipt of this letter. so straight
forward and clean-cut in its statements
developed a mystery that was incompre
hensible to us. Dates, names, places
circumstances, all stand out as evidences
of the truth of the representation, ant
also as evidences that Mr.. Lewis haC
fully investigated the matter and gvel
the results of his Investigations to hi
friends in this city; still those friends
had never heard the facts, or had en-
tirely forgotten them. How could Mr.
Lewis know these things so well ant
yet all the writers who had undertaken
to enlighten the world abou
this horse for fifteen years fail tc
know any of them? Was Mr.. Lewis
untrustworthy, or were the writers ant
owners OF George wilkes and his dan
unaccountably stupid? Here was di
lemma and in order to determine which
: horn to take, we resolved to test tn,
accuracy and reliability of Mr.. Lewis
statements from a starting point entire
ly Independent of him. Bristol, wher,
the mare was represented to have beer
bred, is some twenty or thirty mile
from Geneva, the place of Mr.. Lewis
! raeinnnPn EnrfnnatalN
friend, Mr.. John Il. Ray, secretary o
the Sheep Breeders association, lives a
Honeoye, not very far from Bristol, ant
we knew there was no more competen
nor reliable gentleman in the State t.
look after the matter. We submitted
the facts to him, as they appeared from
, Mr.. Lewis statement, and what he di'
and how he did it we will give in hi
own Words
'HONEOYE, N. Y, Jan. l, 1873.
y. ii. WALLACE, ESQ,