320 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



oring to ascertain the pedigree and early history of the 

 Justin Morgan and his descendants. Among the memo- 

 randa left by him, now in possession of the Hon. F. 

 Holbrook, which the latter gentleman has kindly per- 

 mitted us to examine, we find the following : ^ Matthew 

 Allen of Guildhall, now seventy years old, or over, 

 informs me that James Sherman and himself came from 

 Rhode Island to St. Johnsbury in 1799. Before they 

 left, Mr. John Brown of Providence gave Mr. Sherman 

 an imported English mare of great beauty, a fine saddle- 

 mare, and so used by his daughters (she was then spav- 

 ined). She was a mahogany brown, fifteen and a half 

 hands high, delicate make.' Mr. Allen goes on to state 

 that this mare was the dam of the Sherman. 



*'Mr. S. C. Gibbs of Littleton, N.H., who purchased 

 the horse of Mr. James Sherman, gives the following 

 account of the dam : ' She was bought at the South 

 (I think in Virginia) by Mr. John Sherman of Provi- 

 dence, R.I., who had friends in that State. He pur- 

 chased her for her beauty and speed. Soon after he 

 returned with her, she unfortunately slipped her hip. 

 He then gave her to his brother James of Lyndon.' 



" It has also been said that the dam was long owned 

 by Nicholas Brown of Providence, RL, one of the 

 well-known firm of Brown & Ives, formerly a large 

 importing-house. Mr. George Sherman says his father 

 bought the mare of Dr. Fiske of Cranston, R.I. It is 

 of little consequence which of these accounts is correct, 

 as none of them undertake to give her pedigree. If 



