The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-07-16
1HE FAMILY OF MORGAN.


+. c. Lawrence, of Belvidere, ILL.,,
has the following to say in regard
to the famous Morgan horse:
The original, or Justin Morgan,
was purchased by Justin Morgan in
Springfield, Mass, in 1895, and was
taken by him to Randolph, VT. This
colt was then two years old. He was
sired by True Briton. True Briton
was said to have been sired by the
imported horse Traveller. OF the
dam of Justin Morgan there are con-
fiictmg accounts, but all agree that
she must have been an animal of good
breeding, as there must have been
good blood on both sides, or he could
not have stamped his remarkable
qualities on his descendants down
through so many generations, as he
certainly did, He was about II hands
hj weighed $50 pounds and was
a:dark bay.
1t his day trotting races were not
SO marh in practice as in later times.
A hore's qualities were tested by
running short races, pulling matches
and general road performance.
FOALED SIX SIRES.
Of his yet there are mentioned in
history buA six sires-the Hawkins
horse, foald in 1906; the Fenton
horse, foaledin 1903; Bulrush, foal-
ed in 1872; Revenge, foaled in 1875 !;
Woodbury., sometimes called the Bur-
bank horse, fooled in I8I6-yet we
might mention scores of celebrated
horses that trace directly back to
him.
well remember that my father
owned pair of Mogans away back
in the '3o's. He called them his
ponies. They weighed 900 pounds.
He used to team it over the hills of
Western New York from Rochester,
Buffalo, Pittsford and other towns
on the canal. Eight barrels of salt
was his load, when he loaded with
salt, which made about $500 pounds.
In his old age he would speak of the
ponies as the best team he had ever
owned.
Among the celebrated Morgan
sires is Clifford, foaled in 1894, own
ed by Zeba Clifford, of Tunbridge,
VT, sired by Woodbury., grandsire
Justin Morgan. This horse was sold
when he was 22 years old to a stock
company of Walpole, N. H., for ST.
600. Black Hawk, foaled in 1893,
the property of Wingate Twombly,
of Greenland, N. H., got by Sher-
man. His dam was said to be a half
blood English mare raised in New
Brunswick; her color was black. He
was kept by Benjamin Thurston, of
Lowell, Mass, for a family horse
until 1874, when he was purchased
by David Hill, Esq, of Bridgeport,
VT. Black Hawk is probably the
most celebrated at this day of all his
descendants of the original Morgan.
LIVED TO AN OLD AGE
great longevity, many of them doing
service at IS and 80 years of age.
They were used much harder than
horses of our day, especially Justin
Morgan and Sherman, who were put
to all kinds of work when very
young, hauling heavy loads over the
hills of New England. Besides, the
owners of these two horses never
hesitated to take them out of the
team and run them race of a quar-
ter of a mile or pull them their best
for a small wager, which they sell
dom failed to win. Justin Morgan
lived until he was 2o years old and
then died from an accident. Sher-
man died at the age of ~.
Black Hawk came in later day
and received much better treatment.
His age cannot now say, but he
was living in 1857. I think he died
between that time and 1860. He
might have lived much longer, as
he showed little of the effects of age
in 1857, but he tore his flesh on a
nail which was carelessly left pro-
truding from his stall. Blood pois-
oning set in and caused his death.
The admirers of Morgan horses
do not claim that they have made
the best time on record, yet they were
the best in their day. am speaking
of sires. There are few of the fast
horses of today, but have Morgan
blood in them, which gives them
their staying qualities" They gel
their length of stride from other
breeds. We do claim that for horses
of all work and general usefulness
they have never been excelled, and
probably never will be. I knew q
Morgan mare, owned in Winnebagc
county, Illinois. When I last saw
her she was 40 years old, and was 9
remarkably spry and active anima
then. She died two years later.
Bulrush, son of Justin Morgan
died at the age of SO.
Fanny jerks, a Morgan mare
owned by Gen. A. T. Dunham, o.
Troy, N. Y, trotted ten miles a
Centerville, Long Island, in Octo
Der, 1874, before a sulky carrying
I45 pounds, in 2o minutes and S
seconds, beating Neptune and Mis-
fortune. On the 5th of May, I845
in match against time for $500, t.
trot 100 miles in 10 hours over th'
Bulls Head course, near Albany, N
Y, she performed the distance in
hours 42 minutes and 81 seconds
Exclusive of I8 minutes ~ seconds
stoppage for refreshment, she per
formed the entire distance in 9 hour
| "a minutes and 80 seconds. OF thi
performance an article in the Spiri
of the Times headed Fanny Jenk
against the World" says: with
out stopping, she trotted once aroun'
the track in q minutes and 23 sec
onds. On the following day sh
was driven I2 miles to Albany an,