100 



DO>rESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



known as the Morgan. The origin of this race is given in the following ex- 

 tracts from letters written by a son and a relative of the original owner of the 

 old Morgan horse : 



The following is an extract from a letter of Justin Morgan, origiiiallj 

 furnished for the Cultivator (vol. ix., p. 99), dated Stockbridge, Vt., March 

 1, 1S42. After stating that his iather owned the horse from which the race 

 of Morgan horses sjjrung, he says : 



" I -will now relate the facts relative to said Morgan horse as I recollect 

 thoin. My father, Justin Morgan, brought said horse, or rather said colt, 

 into Randolpli, A't., in the siiuinier or autumn of 1795. Said colt was only 

 two years old when my father brought him to Kandolph, and had never 

 been handled in any way, not even to be led by a halter. My father went 

 to Springfield, Mass.. the place of his nativity, and tiie place from which he 

 removed to Ilandolph, in the spring or summer of 1795, after money that 

 was due to him at that place, as he said ; and instead of getting money, as 

 he expected, he got two colts — one, a tliroe-year-old gelding colt, ■which he 

 led ; the other, a two-year-old stallimi colt, which followed all the way from 

 Springfield to Randolph ; liaving been, as my father said, always kept with 

 and much attached to the colt he led. Said two-year-old colt was the same 

 that has since been known all over Kew England by the name of the Morgan 

 horse. My father broke said colt himself, and, as I have before remarked, 

 owned and kept him to the time of his decease, which took place in March, 

 179S, ebkI said horse was five years old the spring my father died ; and, as 

 before stated,*soon after my father's decease, he passed from my father's 

 estate into the possession of "Wm. Eice, of Woodstock, Yt. I can not state 

 positively that my father jnirchased said colt in Springfield, Mass., but I am 

 very confident that he purchased him in that town or in the immediate 

 vicinity, on Connecticut River." 



AVe next offer an extract from a letter of John Morgan (see Cultivator, 

 vol. ix., p. 110), in which it will be seen that the material points set forth 

 by Justin Morgan are confirmed, and some further light given in regard to 

 the blood of the first Morgan horse. John Morgan resides at Lima, New 

 York, and is, we believe, a relative of Justin Morgan, Sr., and was a near 

 neighbor of the latter previous to his removal from Springfield to Yermont. 

 In reference to the colt above described by Justin Morgan (2d), John Mor- 

 gan says : " lie was sired by a horse owned by Sealy Norton, of East Hart- 

 ford, Conn., called the 'True Briton, or Beautiful Bay.' He was kept at 

 Springfield one season by the said Justin Jlorgan [Sr.], and two years after, I 

 kejit him two seasons. Tliis horse was said to have been raised by General 

 Delancy, commander of the refugee troops on Long Island, and rode by him 

 in the Revolution. It was said that one Smith stole the horse from the 

 General at King's Bridge, while the General was in the tavern ; ran him 

 across the bridge and took him to the American army, near "White Plains, 

 and sold him to Joseph "Ward, of Hartford, Conn., for $.300. It was also 

 said at that time that he was sired by the imported horse called * Traveler,' 



