FIRST FRENCH HORSES IN AMERICA 109 



and New England, but whatever mark they may have 

 left upon the horses of that portion of the United 

 States was later effaced by the stronger blood of imp. 

 Messenger, a Thoroughbred and also a gray, whose 

 stock even to the second and third generations 

 proved popular in the east. 



Alexander's Norman. — One son of the McNitt 

 Horse gained a measure of renown in this country. 

 This was the gray Morse Horse, sire of Alexander's 

 Norman, a noted stallion taken from New York state 

 to Eobert A. Alexander's famous Woodburn Farm in 

 Kentucky' some time during the '50 's of the last 

 century to sire work horses. This he did with suc- 

 cess, and incidentally he founded a small and com- 

 paratively unimportant family of trotters. The 

 name of this horse would indicate that the French 

 type probably had been preserved in his case. 



Diligent search of old newspaper files and such 

 public documents as are available reveals no proof 

 of further importations from France for a long 

 series of years. There is a tradition that at some 

 time between 1820 and 1831 gray French horses 

 were imported into Maryland, but if so all traces 

 of them, their owners, and their history have van- 

 ished. 



First Importation to the States. — In 1831 Edward 

 Harris, a resident of Moorestown, N. J., was travel- 

 ing for pleasure in northern France and became so 

 impressed with the excellence of the hardy horses 

 that hauled the heavy diligences in which he tra- 

 versed the country that he determined to ship a few 



