Shanghai Mary, that has become so famous as the dam of Green Mountain Maid, one of the very greatest of all brood mares, was probably a daughter of this same horse, Cadmus. This mare, Shanghai Mary, was a trotter of speed, not far from a 2:30 gait, and she won some races, but she was hot-headed and unreliable. Notwithstanding continuous searches, for years, her origin remained a profound mystery, until of recent date certain facts point to Mr. Coffein as her breeder and Cadmus as her sire. This has not been established historically, but when the circumstances are understood and taken in connection with the internal evidences, which are amazingly strong, and had been pointed out and applied to this sire long before the recent developments, there remains hardly a moral doubt that she was by Cadmus. The fact that this mare is the maternal grandam of Electioneer, the greatest of all trotting sires to date, makes her pedigree a matter of special interest, and for details of the various investigations the reader is referred to Wallace’s Monthly, and to Chapter XXIX. of this volume.
Pocahontas seems to have produced but five foals that reached maturity: 1855, Tom Rolfe, of which hereafter; 1859, Young Pocahontas, by Ethan Allen, a very fast trotter; 1860, May Queen, by Ethan Allen; 1861, May Day, by Miles Standish; 1863 bay colt Strideway, by Black Hawk Telegraph. This was a very fast and promising young horse, and doubtless would have stood among the fastest stallions of his day, but he died on the very eve of his public appearance on the trotting turf.
Tom Rolfe had a checkered existence from his conception. His dam, Pocahontas, was bred to Pugh’s Aratus, by Abraham Pierce, her then owner, May 10, 1853, and ten days afterward she was sold without her new owner’s knowing she had been bred. He was thus carried in his mother’s womb, during her training and through her racing campaign in New Orleans, until a little over two months of the time he was dropped. During most of this period those handling the mare did not know she had been bred, and hence the story that Tom was a “catch” colt. He was a bay, about fifteen hands two inches high, and came to his speed with very little handling. In private trials, it is said, he had frequently shown a mile in 2:23. While on exhibition in a small ring at Dayton, Ohio, he met with an accident, from which he was ever afterward a cripple. In this condition however, he afterward made a record in 2:33½. His sire, Pugh’s Aratus, was a large, handsome farm horse, sixteen hands two inches high, and weighing one thousand three hundred pounds. He was got by Phares’ Aratus, out of a fast pacing mare. There is no evidence whatever going to show that Phares’ Aratus was a son of Aratus by Director. The type of the family did not indicate the possession of any running blood. Tom Rolfe put four trotters and three pacers, all with fast records, into the 2:30 list, and three of his sons left twenty-nine performers. In the latter years of his life he was sold by Mr. Woodmansee to Mr. Wesley P. Balch, of Boston, and died 1877.
Young Rolfe was the best son of Tom Rolfe. He was a bay, foaled 1876, and came out of Judith, by Draco, son of Young Morrill, and she out of Lady Balch, by Rising Sun. He was bred by Wesley P. Balch, passed to C. H. Nelson, of Maine, then back to John Sheppard of Boston, and died 1884, when only eight years old. He was one of the best horses of his day, as a race horse, and his early death was universally considered a great loss to the breeding interests of the country. He has to his credit nine representative trotters in the 2:30 list.
Nelson, the great son of Young Rolfe, was bred and owned by G. H. Nelson, Waterville, Maine. He is a bay horse, foaled 1882, and out of Gretchen, the daughter of Gideon, by Hambletonian, 10, and she out of the fast trotting mare Kate, by Vermont Black Hawk. This horse Gideon, the son of Hambletonian, was, like his sire, very strongly inbred to old Messenger, tracing through mares by Young Engineer and Young Commander, both grandsons of Messenger, to the William Hunter mare, that was by Messenger himself. When the pedigree of Nelson is compared with the pedigree of Hambletonian, according to the rules of arithmetic, it may be found to contain nearly or quite as much Messenger blood as Hambletonian possessed, but, unfortunately, we know nothing of the trotting capacity of the intervening mares. If we had a “One Eye” and a “Charles Kent Mare” coming next to the William Hunter mare, we would have much greater expectations. But, as it is, when we consider the superlative capacity of Nelson himself, with his record of 2:09, and his nineteen trotters and seven pacers already to his credit, it is probable he will found a large and valuable family.
Through his son Blanco, sire of Smuggler, we have another notable line to Irons’ Cadmus. Smuggler was in his day the champion trotting stallion, taking a record of 2:15¼ when owned by Colonel Russell, of Boston, and driven by Charles Marvin, who after long and painstaking efforts converted him from his natural gait, the pace, to the trot. Wearing twenty-four ounces on each fore-foot to keep him at the trot, Smuggler defeated all the best horses of his day, including Goldsmith Maid. He was by Blanco, out of a pacing mare of unknown blood. As might have been expected, he failed to found a great family, though fourteen of his get are standard performers, and twelve of his sons and seventeen of his daughters have produced thirty-eight performers.
Tom Hal.—The original Tom Hal was taken to Kentucky, as early, probably, as 1824, and as was the custom in those days, he was called a Canadian, like all other pacing horses. The tradition is that Dr. Boswell got him in Philadelphia and rode him home to Lexington, Kentucky. Another statement is that he was taken to Kentucky by John T. Mason, and this statement appears in the advertisement of the horse for the year 1828. As the horse was in the hands of William L. Breckenridge that year, and as his advertisement was practically a contemporaneous record, we must give the preference to the Mason representation. He was a roan horse, as I understand, a little over fifteen hands high, stout and stylish. He was very smooth and pleasant in his gait and a very fast pacer. He was for some time in the hands of Captain West, of Georgetown, Kentucky, and then passed to Benjamin N. Shropshire, of Harrison County, and after some years he died his property.
Bald Stockings, also known as Lail’s Tom Hal, was a chestnut horse with a bald face and four white legs. He was foaled early in the “forties,” and was got by the original Tom Hal, and his dam was by Chinn’s Copperbottom. He was bred by Higgins Chinn, Harrison County, kept for a time by John Lucas, and owned by Mr. Lail, of the same county. He was one of the prominent links between the old and the new, and was a fast pacer.
Sorrel Tom was a son of Bald Stockings (Lail’s Tom Hal) and bore the same color and markings. He was bred and owned by John Shawhan, of Harrison County, Kentucky. His dam was a grey mare from Ohio, of unknown breeding. He was kept at Falmouth, Indiana, the seasons of 1857 and 1858, and was very widely known in that region as “Shawhan’s Tom Hal.” He was quite a large horse, and to take the description as given him, “he could pace like the wind.” He was then taken back to Kentucky, leaving a multitude of good colts behind him, among them the famous pacing gelding, Hoosier Tom, 2:19½. One of his Indiana sons passed into the hands of William Gray, of Rush County, Indiana, and became known as Gray’s Tom Hal. Nothing is known of the dam of this horse. He was the sire of Little Gipsey, trotter, 2:22, and Limber Jack, pacer, 2:18½, besides six daughters that produced nine performers.
About 1863-4 Mr. Shropshire, Jr., a son of the owner of the original Tom Hal, brought a little roan Tom Hal horse to Rushville, Indiana, where he stood a number of years and was known as Shropshire’s Tom Hal. This horse was probably by Lail’s Tom Hal, as he was too young to be by the original of the name. He was a fast pacer, but nothing is known of his progeny or history. The locating of this Indiana branch of the family is of particular interest, for it shows a concentration of pacing blood that was doubtless a strong reinforcement to Blue Bull.