328 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



birth. It has been generally stated in years past that this mare 

 was brought from Canada, and as there have been many dis- 

 putes about her origin, I will try to give what authentic knowl- 

 edge we have concerning her. 



Mr. Peter W. Jones, one of the "old-time" horsemen and a 

 very reliable man, said that David W. Gilmore, formerly a grocer 

 at City Hall Place and Pearl Street, New York, bought a pacing 

 mare, five years old, of Mark D. Perkins, of Mount Vernon, New 

 Hampshire, which came from Surrey, New Hampshire, and hence 

 her name "Lady Surrey." G-ilmore rode her to New York, with a 

 young man named Lovejoy. He gave less than one hundred 

 dollars for her. She was a superior saddle mare, and as Mr. Gil- 

 more appreciated horseback riding he bought her for that purpose. 

 Frank Gilmore, who was a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Orser, of 

 New York, said that Lady Surrey was the mare his brother rode 

 from -New Hampshire, and after he sold her she turned out to 

 be a trotter. 



This is the story as told by Mr. Jones, and judging from its 

 source I have no doubt it is substantially correct. This leaves us 

 without any knowledge whatever of the blood of the mare, but 

 only that she was both a pacer and a trotter. She was engaged in 

 some races and was quite well known to the trotting men of that 

 day, and she must have been a pretty good one to have been 

 owned by such a horseman as George M. Patchen and by him 

 bred to Andrew Jackson. It is said Surrey and Sally Miller were 

 coupled with Andrew Jackson the same day; they both stood, 

 and the one produced Henry Clay and the other Long Island 

 Black Hawk. 



While Henry Clay remained the property of his breeder he was 

 trained and was looked upon as a promising young horse, but I 

 have not been able to determine what rate of speed he was able 

 to show. He certainly did not stand anywhere near the fastest, 

 and he does not appear to have ever won a race, and perhaps 

 never started in one. Still, he was esteemed as one of the best 

 horses on Long Island and was liberally supported while there. 

 When about eight years old he was sold for a fine price to Gen- 

 eral Wadsworth, of Livingston County, New York, and he was 

 kept at various points in that part of the State till he died of old 

 age and neglect in 1867. He came into the world when trotters 

 were few and he lived till they were many. He left a numerous 

 progeny, but as the sire of trotters he was a pronounced failure. 



