BLACK HAWK 159 



to live with his grandfather, Ezekiel Twombly, father of his mother, 

 at a very early age, making it his home there until after his grand- 

 father's death, which occurred in 1837. Sometime in 1832 Ezekiel 

 Twombly, who was then living on a farm in Durham, New Hamp- 

 shire, traded with Benjamin Kelly, a hotel-keeper in Durham, and 

 got a mare, claimed at that time to be eight or nine years old, and in 

 foal by Sherman Morgan. Mr. Kelly stated that he had the mare of 

 a man who claimed to have brought her from Nova Scotia, and said 

 she was of English blood. She was a large, black animal, with 

 stripe in face, and no other marks ; would weigh, in his judg- 

 ment, about eleven hundred pounds ; had a good head and ear, long, 

 slim neck, medium mane and tail, round barrel of good length, hand- 

 some, smoothly-turned hips, quite a straight rump, legs smooth and 

 free from shaggy hair. Not being accustomed to measuring horses, 

 he could not tell very nearly as to her height, but thought it mightbe 

 fifteen hands. 



" She was a very pleasant, free driver, did not pull on the bit in 

 the least, was a square trotter, never showing any inclination to pace, 

 and was very fast. In harness she carried her head pretty well up ; 

 needed but little checking. Although a free driver, she had a pleas- 

 ant disposition, and would not run away if touched with the whip, 

 yet she needed no encouragement from the lash. It was afterwards 

 stated that she had been used one season on a butcher's cart in Con- 

 cord, New Hampshire, before Kelly got her, but he never took pains to 

 learn, as but little attention was paid in those days to tracing the 

 breeding of animals. Early in the spring of 1833, not later than 

 the middle of April at latest, this mare dropped one of the homeliest 

 colts that he ever saw from that day to this. He remembers the 

 event well. The ground was bare, but there was no grass. The mare 

 had the liberty of the field and he was keeping lookout to see that she 

 did not get away. Suddenly she left the field and went back of the 

 barn into the pasture. About twenty minutes later Mr. Seavey went 

 to look for her and found her in the pasture with the above mentioned 

 colt. They got them to the barn; and not long afterwards a neighbor 

 named Thompson came to buy some hay to feed his cows upon until 

 grass grew. Mr. Thompson thought the colt would come out all 

 right and make a hundred dollar horse. The colt improved in looks 

 as he grew older, and in the fall, though considerably under size, a 

 Dr. Downs who saw him prophesied he would some day be worth one 

 hundred dollars. 



"Mr. Twombly finally gave the colt to him (Shadrack Seavey) 



