Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-04-27
ABOUT JUSTIN MORGAN.

a decade had not passed since all It's peo-
pie had been captured by Indians led 10y
a British officer and carried to Canada;
comparatively speaking it was at that
time farther from Boston. the most OF
New England, than Is san Francisco to-
day. and although the route of the
schoolmaster was along the connecticut
river until within twenty-five miles OF
his home he was on horseback, the colt
leading. 1t is said that on this long
horseback ride the schOolmaster formed
al attachment for the black-legged colt
that grew stronger and stronger rs the
years came and went, and that while he
sometimes put the colr to the extent of
his strength and the limit of his speed.
he was always good carctaker, Kind
master. The colt had become a horse
uine veals old when his owner and mas
ter died. | wonder if he looked back
from across the border and saw the mis-
use to which he was pat by some of his
subsequent owners.
one hundred years ago there were no
wheels save for the OK cart in Orange
county In $50 my fathers oldest sis
ter married in Massachusetts, and the
bridal pair, prayer having been offered
in the meeting house on sabbath day for
their safety, were ten days making the
journey Of 10 miles to their new home
in Orange county, Vermont. To-day the
trip is made in the cars in four hours.
,,.;,, aln I'm no
summer reading was on horseback; the
lawyer, the doctor, the minister as well
as the farmer rode to or from the village
as their business required on horseback;
wives sat behind their husbands going
and returning from meeting (church) on
the same round Morgan back. Only the
very well-todo spOrted a saddle and
pilion. Most often it was sheepskin,
for while the early settlers of the eastern
slope of the Green Mountains were
largely made up of people who left Con-
necticut to escape the rigors of the
"blue laws" and of those who left
Massachusetts between two days to
avoid the liquidation of debts in the
county Jail. they nevertheless built meet
ing houses (churches), "settled" their
ministers. aud certain of the youth and
beauty sang in the choir. 70 keep up
the choir singing. schools were held in
the winter
Morgan was singing-master; he play
ed a bass vol. The fiddle was the devils
Instrument Being used by the wicked
at dances, it was not allowed IN the
church, albeit, it is said he sometimes
played dancing tunes on the bass vol to
the delight of the young people. and
taught lorraine fa-sOl-a-se-do travelling
from town to town during the winter
months. and after the colt was four
wears Old he rode him in his business
and thus advertised him for the coming
season.
From the time the Morgan family was
founded to the days when it began to
s decay. but few of it, breeders owned
more than one or two mares for brood
purposes. There was no Palo Alto. no
WOODBURY., no Hickory Grove, no Laurel
Hill farms on the eastern slope of the
Green Mountains. On account of the
isolation of their home. and the far dis
lance of their breeding place from the
marts of New England, the Morgans
were inbred. not OutcrOssed, until at the
end of fifty wears from the time wher
justin Morgan commenced his stud ser
vice, family was established, family
of which brother and sister looked anC
acted alike, all had the same gait, same
disposition, same vice and same good
ness.
| have seen sXty-pod teams Ga pod i
two horses hitched to a wooden straigh
runnered pung) in string drawing tn
produce of beans, poultry, dried apple
and dressed pork of sixty Windsor count,
farmers to the Boston market. lie
loose the l2O horses. catch up any two
: and they were matched span.
Inbreeding made this family, its ROAD
sters, its drafters, its trotters. its king
and queens. 70 illustrates Lord Clin
ton, 2:l0t, the fastest of all the Morgans
by Denning Allen, by Honest Allen, b,
Ethan Allen, by Flying Morgan, by tn
Hackett Horse, by Clifford Morgan, b.
Woodbury. Morgan, by Justin Morgan
the dam of Denning was from the Flying
Cloud branch of this family; the dan
of Honest Allen was by the Brooks Horse
a son of Sherman Morgan, by Justin
the dam of Ethan, I'D to pole, was b
Red Robin, by Woodbury., as was ais
the dam of Flying Morgan, while tn
maternal grandam of Ethan was an ii
bred Justin.
T. Justin Morgan was in the stud 70
nearly thirty years, having stations fror
Randolph to Weathersfield Bow on tn
south, to st. .Johnsbury on the nortl
always east of the Green Mountal
range. Only seven of his sons were keI
as stations, three Of whom became fan
Gus as progenitOrs of roadsters. She
man was foalod in 1909 and was bred b