The New York herald., 1921-07-31

10 the owner and driver or the nrSt trot-
. ting horse that ever made record OF
$3.50 or better:
In Memory of
DAVID BRYAN,
who died at New Orleans April 5. 1851. |:
Aged 45.
Buried at Sea.
'.'.''''.'''........'' .'-''.......''''.'''
other Bryans and Bryants-the latter
seems to have been the original name
and of Smith Burr. who owned Lady
6uffolk's sire, and his son CARL s. Burr,
who trained Maud s.. 2:0S%. and many
other famous trotters. A little further
{ up the road we came to the old home
stead of the Burrs, now the residence OF
CARL S. Burr. Jr.. who pointed out the
site of the stable, part of which Is still
standing, where the stallion Engineer
was kept by his grandfather.
The farm of the Bryans adjoined that
of the Burrs, and until three or four
years ago one could see the stable in
! which Lady Suffolk lived when she was
not off campaigning. A high wind levelled
the old building, which was just across
the road from the track where the
younger Mr.. Burr drove Harrietta,
2:09%. and Miss Ida, :10%. a mile to
pole in 2:13N for H. o. Havemeyer on a
memorable occasion twenty-five years
ago. This farm was in the possession of
I the Bryans almost 200 years. Mr.. Burr
said. 1t is now the property of Horace
Havemeyer. who is breeding polo ponies
4 and dairy cattle there.
where Lady Suffolk Was FoaIed.
Having visited the home Of her later
years l was eager to see the spot where
Lady Suffolk was foaled. IL any one
/, could be found to identify 1t nearly
, century after the gray mare was born.
In Smithtown Branch, few miles fur
ther out on the Jericho turnpike. was
+ fortunate in finding Charles e. Law
renee. whose grandfather. Leonard w.
y Lawrence, bred her. Mr.. Lawrence Is
well known among New York horse
men as the breeder of Baronward King,
3 2:13H, fast trotting stallion that made
his record at Mlneola In 1912.
II presume I am almost the only man
now living who knows just where Lady
( Suffolk was foaled," he said, and then
showed the way out along Poverty lane
and the upper dock road to the secluded
nook, down in the woods near the mouth
of the Nisseaquogue River, and right on
the west bank of the stream where his
4 grandfather lived. There under the
century-old oaks and walnut trees ST . I
the shingle house Of his ances,Y - -
r its solid wooden shutters and tiny win
dow panes, apparently unchanged since it
was built in Colonial Gays. Up on the
higher ground to the south and west
was the large sidehill barn where Lady
/. Suffolk did he- first work. NIr. Lawrence
said. treadirg out grain on the floor.
which is still sound. Hand wrought
nails hipg 1atphea haar xuifnaGa
3 to the age Of the structure, which seems
= likely to last another hundred years or
30 IL the roof Is kept tight to protect
the timbers beneath. Perhaps thirty
yards from the barn in the direction
of the river bank Mr.. Lawrence pointed
cut two young locust trees which marked
the spot where. his grandfather had told
him as a boy. the dam of Lady Suffolk
sought shelter under a shed no longer
standing. when she gave birth to her
foal,
suggests Monument to Mark Spot.
II would like to see a monument or
tablet of some kind placed here to fix
the location and commemorate the
event." he said. "for the time will soon
come when IL you ask where Lady Suf-
folk was foaled no one can tell"
Climbing the hill back to Landing
avenue and Poverty lane Mr.. Lawrence
pointed out the f1ne largo Colonial
shingle house which was the homo of
Charles Little a hundred years ago. 1t
was Charley Little, "a young man who
traded horses all the time." that bought
Lady Suffolk from her breeder for $3.50
and sold her to Richard +. Blydenburgh,
from whom she was purchased by Mr..
Bryan when she was four years old.
Mr.. Blydenburgh lived In the interest
ing old white shingle house on the Mid
die Island road, which was afterward
the summer home OF j. Clinch Smith of
coaching fame. This house. or part
Of II. is apparently very old, and one
wonders whether 1t could have been the
home of the widow Blidenberg" men
toned by George Washington In the
diary he kept of his tour OF Long Island
in 1870. He baited his carriage horses
at the widows in Smiths Town" on his
way from "Setakit' to Huntington and
Oyster Bay.
Just around the corner from the Bly,
denburgh house Is the Presbyterian
church, one Of the architectural gems
of Long Island. 1t Is old enough to have
been the one to which the wife OF the
breeder of Lady Suffolk once said she
remembered having seen DR.. Richard
Floyd ride the very splendid" dark
brown mare that was the dam OF the
great trotter DIR. Floyd's father. Gen.
John Floyd, always while he owned her
rode her on parade on training days.
such was her style and spirit, Mr.. Law
renee said.
Breeder Not q Horscman.
Like Townsend Cock, the last owner
of imported Messenger, John Tredwell,
the breeder of Abdallah. and very many
others identified with the origin of the
breed of trotting horses on Long Island
the Lawrences were Quakers. Their
grandson says the breeder OF Lady
Suffolk was not horsenian In the sense
of being anything of an expert concern
ing either the form or breeding OF fine
horses, and his production of the first
$50 trotter was purely accidental. He
bought the brown mare they called Jenny
from Charley Little because he needed
an extra horse In haying time. He prob
ably bred her to Engineer because tina.
horse then belonged to his neighbor, DIR.
Josiah Bowers, a real horseman on
whose farm on Poverty Lane Ben New
ton and other old timers used to say they
had seen as many as thirty colts, mostly
gray, together In the pastures. Another
consideration which may have influenced
the selection OF mate for Jenny was
that Engineers stud fee was only 81.
This Engineer. or Engineer H., as he