II 

 JUSTIN MORGAN 



This distinguished animal was bred by Justin Morgan, whose 

 name he bore and made famous. He was foaled in 1789. His dam 

 was owned by Mr. Morgan when the colt was begotten, but it does 

 not appear whether he continued to own her or not when the colt 

 was foaled. Mr. Justin Morgan was born in 1747 in West Springfield, 

 Massachusetts, a town on the west side of the Connecticut River, op- 

 posite Springfield, and was living there keeping a small boatman's 

 tavern up to the year 1788, in which he bred the colt. Between June 

 2Oth and September 3d of that year he moved with his family to 

 Randolph, Orange county, Vermont, and took up his residence near 

 the Brookfield line north of the village of Randolph Center. These 

 dates are fixed by the records, those of West Springfield showing 

 that Justin Morgan sold to Abner Morgan on the I2th day of March, 

 1788, for thirty-three pounds, seven shillings and six pence, a lot of 

 land in West Springfield, estimated to contain about two-thirds of an 

 acre, and upon which there was a house and barn ; and those of Ran- 

 dolph showing that Justin. Morgan was not listed there in 1788, as he 

 would have been under the existing law if he had been there before 

 the 2Oth of June ; and also that Mr. Morgan's daughter, Nancy, was 

 born there on the 3d day of September of the same year. Mr. Mor- 

 gan did not take the dam of the colt with him to Randolph, and it is 

 quite probable that he sold her before making the journey, but this 

 is not ascertained. ' Nor is it proven in whose possession she was 

 when the colt was foaled, nor who kept the colt until delivered 

 to Mr. Morgan. The colt was taken to Randolph, Vermont, by Jus- 

 tin Morgan, who called him Figure and always advertised him by 

 that name. 



The horse, Justin Morgan, was got by True Briton, otherwise 

 ^called Beautiful Bay, owned by Selah Norton of Hartford, Con- 

 necticut, and said to have been captured from Col. James De Lancey, 



