JUSTIN MORGAN 101 



"The reputation of the old Justin Morgan was so thoroughly 

 established, and his stock so uniform, that no one went generally 

 back with the pedigree. But General Hibbard, who was very intel- 

 ligent in pedigrees, said there was no question about his English 

 descent, and said that his sire was owned by an English officer. 

 It was more than fifty years ago that I heard him say this. Gen- 

 eral Hibbard was extremely well acquainted with horsemen in 

 Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts, perhaps more than 

 any other man in the State ; he was authority here on any matter re- 

 lating to horses." 



In the u Montpelier Watchman" of June 9, 1853, is an article 

 on the Morgan horse, taken from the "American Cultivator," in which 

 the facts concerning the horse are substantially the same as after- 

 wards given in Linsley's work. Commenting on these, the editor of 

 the "Watchman" says : 



" It corresponds with the information we received a number of 

 years since from the late Gen. Joseph Edson of Randolph, in this 

 State, a good judge of that noble animal, the horse, and well versed 

 in the pedigree of the old Justin Morgan. We can, therefore, vouch 

 for its accuracy in all the material facts". 



Deacon N. S. Benham of Derby Center, Vermont, an old gen- 

 tleman of most excellent reputation and remarkable memory, born 

 in 1802, and interviewed by us in 1888, said that Mr. Nathan 

 Nye, who moved from Randolph to Derby, where he died between 

 seventy and eighty years old, gave him repeatedly the history of the 

 original Morgan horse. He said this horse was brought to Randolph from 

 Hartford, Connecticut, by Justin Morgan, who used him for different 

 kinds of work and in the stud ; that he could out-draw, out-run, out- 

 walk or out-trot any horse that could be found, and did do it re- 

 peatedly on bets. Mr. Benham thought he was imported in 

 the Revolutionary war by a French officer, and was captured, or in 

 some way came into the hands of Mr. Morgan. After Mr. Morgan 

 brought him to Randolph, he was sold and went up to Burlington, or 

 Essex, when, his colts proving very good, parties went there and 

 bought him back. " Nye said he was brought up from Hartford ; he was 

 sold to Burlington, or near Burlington, that I know; they found 

 his stock so good they got him back, that is what he told me. A 

 French officer brought him over in the time of the Revolution ; don't 

 know how Morgan got him". 



To the question, how Mr. Nye knew about it, Mr. Benham 

 answered: "He knew it from himself; he was an eye witness; lived 



