DESCENDANTS CF SHERMAN MORGAN 305 



taken, says (page 309) of the dam: "She was a dark bay of remarkably 

 compact form, with great powers of endurance". Of Royal Morgan he 

 says : " It has been said that he was not sired by Sherman but by the Batch- 

 elder Horse. We have taken some pains to satisfy ourselves on this point 

 and have stated his pedigree according to our convictions. The facts seem 

 to be that the dam of Royal Morgan was coupled with the Batchelder Horse 

 early in the spring of 1820, but the following July, the mare not proving in 

 foal, Mr. Aldrich sent her to Sherman, and the following year paid for the 

 services of the latter horse. Mr. Aldrich sold him when a colt [probably to 

 Alvin Flint], and he was taken to Maine, where he was known as Morgan 

 Rattler. In 1829 he was taken to Derby, Vt., [and purchased by Messrs. 

 Chamberlain and Brackett, Lyndon, Vt., for $400]. A few years after this 

 he became the property of Reuben Crane, tavern keeper [Derby Centre], 

 who owned him several years. The administrator of Crane's estate sold the 

 horse [in 1843] to Solomon Steele of Derby Line, Vt. In 1847, Mr. Steele, 

 having a good offer for him, was about selling him, when Portus Baxter and 

 Dr. L. Richmond of Derby organized a stock company, of which Mr. Steele 

 was president, and the horse was kept by him". He was also owned by a 

 Mr. Newton of Lyndon, who probably bought of Chamberlain and sold to 

 Crane. About 1852 he was bought by William Baxter of Barton, Vt., by 

 whom he was owned till the winter of 1857-58; then sold to Mr. Bean, 

 Glover, Vt. ; then to John Gregory, Xorthfield, Vt., whose property he died 

 in November, 1858, from getting cast in his stable. He was exhibited at the 

 State fair in Burlington in 1858, being then 37 (or 34) years old, but still 

 vigorous. His portrait appears in the "Vermont Stock Journal" (edited by 

 D. C. Linsley) of August, 1858, with a letter dated June 12, 1858. from John 

 Gregory, in which he says: "I am informed that he got from nine to 

 twelve colts the past year and a few more the year previous. I am in 

 hopes to get a few colts from him this season ". Under the picture is 

 " Royal Morgan, or Crane Horse : Thirty-seven years old. The oldest 

 stallion now living ". It appears from Thompson's " Maine-Bred Horses" that 

 he was brought to Maine when a colt and kept there till 1829, when he WPS 

 taken to Derby, Vt. If this latter date is correct, and Mr. Steele in the follow- 

 ing letter is correct as to the horse's being five years old when he first saw him 

 at Derby, then the horse was 34 instead of 37 when he died. Joseph 

 Gregory, son of John Gregory, writes from Williamstown, Vt., May 21, 

 1889: "He got no colts the last year, but was all horse. The day be- 

 fore he died he jumped over a stone wall three feet high to get in with other 

 horses". 



In a letter to the "Spirit of the Times " in 1859, Solomon Steele writes : 

 The first time I ever saw Royal Morgan was at Derby Line, Vt., when 

 ne was five years old. He was then owned by Messrs. Chamberlain & Chase 

 of Lyndon, Vt. Having seen the original Justin Morgan, I then regarded him 

 as nearly a fac-simile of that horse. This circumstance is easily accounted 

 for when we consider that Royal Morgan was a grandson of old Justin on 

 the side of both his sire and dam. At this time he possessed a greater com- 

 bination (in my judgment) of good points than I had ever seen many other 



