XVII 

 DESCENDANTS OF SHERMAN MORGAN 



This and chapters immediately following include all known sons of Sher 

 man, Bulrush and Woodbury Morgan, and the more noted stallions among their 

 descendants, arranged by families. The choice of descendants is necessarily 

 somewhat arbitrary, but, as all will appear in Volume II., this is not impor- 

 tant. It has been found impracticable to include all in one volume. 



BILLY ROOT 



One of the most interesting sons of Sherman Morgan was Billy Root. 

 We remember years ago at Sheldon, in Franklin county, Vermont, seeing a 

 stallion of the family, small, but of wonderful strength, activity and finish. 

 Such, we understand, is the general character of the family, and we can well 

 appreciate the high esteem in which it has always been held. The stock in 

 Vermont has been mostly found in Caledonia and Franklin counties. It also 

 extended across the line into Canada and quite a number of the sons of Billy 

 Root were taken West. 



Billy Root or Comet (also called Red Bird) was a dark chestnut with a 

 few white hairs in forehead and a little white on off hind foot ; he weighed 

 942 pounds, was bred by Hezekiah Martin, St. Johnsbury, Vt.,got by Sher- 

 man Morgan and foaled in 1829. His dam was a fine driver of about 1000 

 pounds, said to be by a small horse that Matthew Allen brought from Mon- 

 treal ; and his second dam by the original Justin Morgan. 



Linsley says : " His dam was a half French mare, sired by Justin Mor- 

 gan". This is changed principally on the authority of the following certifi- 

 cate of the breeder of Billy Root: "This is to certify that the Root horse 

 was raised by me, and was sired by the Sherman Morgan horse ; and the 

 Sherman horse and the grandmother of the Root horse were sired by the old 

 Morgan horse. HEZEKIAH MARTIN. 



St. Johnsbury, July 27th, 1885". 



Billy Root was sold, in 1831 or '32, to Eldad Root, who kept him in 

 New York, it is thought at Genesee Plats, and several years in Lyndon, Vt., 

 and about'i838 took him to Highgate, Franklin county, Vt., where he re- 

 mained four years, standing at Highgate and Franklin, Vt., and at Bedford, 

 P.Q., and neighboring towns. About 1841 Mr. Root sold him to Mr. Stevens, 



