Tom Hal (Kittrell’s) was a large bay horse and a pacer, bought by Major M. B. Kittrell in 1850 of Simeon Kirtly, near Centerville, Bourbon County, Kentucky, and taken to Middle Tennessee. His sire was represented to have been a large pacing bay horse that was brought from Canada, thereby implying that he was the original of the name, brought to Kentucky. While it is possible that the original Mason horse may have been the sire of Major Kittrell’s horse, the size and color of that horse do not correspond with what has been accepted as facts. It is altogether more probable that the sire of the Tennessee horse was a son of the original Tom Hal, as the roan color seems to be strongly fixed in all branches of the family.
Tom Hal Jr. (Gibson’s) was a roan horse, foaled 1860. Got by Kittrell’s Tom Hal; dam (bred by John Leonard), by Adam’s Stump, pacer; grandam said to be by Cummings’ Whip, pacer. Bred by H. C. Saunders, Nashville, Tennessee; kept a number of years by T. D. Moore, Petersburg, Tennessee, afterward owned by Polk Bros. and Major Campbell Brown, of Springhill, Tennessee. Adams’ Stump was a roan horse and a fast pacer and he was not only the sire of Julia Johnson, the dam of this horse, but also of the dam of Bonesetter. He died of old age, July, 1890. The strong concentration of pacing blood in his veins gave him unusual power in transmitting his inherited habit of action. He put fourteen representatives in the 2:30 list, and what is unprecedented, they are all pacers.
Brown Hal is a brown horse, as his name indicates, foaled 1879, got by Gibson’s Tom Hal; dam the pacing mare Lizzie, the dam of the pacer Little Brown Jug, by John Netherland, son of Henry Hal; grandam Blackie, by John Hal, son of John Eaton; great-grandam Old March, by Young Conqueror. Bred by R. H. Moore, Culleoka, Tennessee, passed to M. C. Campbell and Campbell Brown, Springhill, Tennessee. Here we have a still stronger intensification of the pacing instinct, for this horse not only has a pacing record himself of 2:12½, but he put twenty of his progeny into the standard list, and all of them pacers. It is not shown by the Year Book that either this horse or his sire has any trotters to his credit, but it can hardly be doubted that some of their progeny took naturally to the diagonal trot, and not showing encouraging speed, were never developed.
If the question were asked, “What is to result from this intensely pacing family?” it would be very difficult to frame a satisfactory answer. At present this family shows all the vigor of youth in its new development, but, judging by others that have come and gone, it too, in its turn, will be submerged in more prepotent strains, that will more nearly meet the wants of their masters. The pacer has been lifted from obscurity and made the equal of the trotter as a race horse; his blood has contributed to an unknown extent in giving speed to the trotter, but he must be as good a horse for all uses as the trotter, or nobody will want him.
Kentucky Hunter, the head of the family bearing this name that, at one time, was very prominent in Central New York, was foaled 1822, and was bred by Louis Sherrill of New Hartford, New York, and was got by Watkins’ Highlander. His dam was a mare bought from a couple of dealers who were passing through New Hartford with some six or seven horses for sale, and they represented this mare to have been brought from Kentucky. On this representation she was called “a Kentucky mare.” She was a fine saddle mare and for this reason she was used chiefly for that service. From her superiority as a saddler, I think it is safe to conclude she was a pacer and could go the saddle gaits. Kentucky Hunter was a chestnut horse, a little above medium size. Mr. Sherrill sold him when young to Messrs. Bagg and Goodrich who kept him two years and sold him to William Ferguson, of Oriskany Falls, New York, and Mr. Ferguson continued to own him till he died in 1838.
During the lifetime of this horse the pacing gait was considered an evidence of bad breeding, and this prejudice has continued for many years. The saddle was going out of use and wheels were coming in. After Flora Temple electrified the trotting world, writers had a great deal to say of her origin and family, but no one ever intimated that her grandsire was a pacer. From sources that I have no reason to doubt, I have been informed he was not only a pacer, but a fast pacer. This habit of action was not popular with breeders, and Mr. Ferguson kept it concealed as much as possible. When the pacer, Oneida Chief, from his own loins, was beating Lady Suffolk, three miles in 7:44, to saddle, and many of the other cracks of that day, his sire was dead and nothing was then to be made by proclaiming from the housetops that Oneida Chief was by old Kentucky Hunter.
Very little is known of Watkins’ Highlander, the sire of this horse. He was brought to Whitestown, New York, 1821, by Julius Watkins, from Connecticut. Some of the older men who knew the horse insist that Mr. Watkins represented him to be by a son of imported Messenger, and out of Nancy Dawson by imported Brown Highlander. This is possible, indeed probable, but it is not established.
Bogus Hunter was one of the younger sons of Kentucky Hunter. He was a chestnut horse of good size and came out of a mare by Bogus. But little is known of this horse, and that little is rendered still more uncertain by the unreliable character of his owners, the Loomis brothers, of Sangerfield, New York. It is certain, however, that a horse owned by the Loomises and called by this name was the sire of the famous world beater, Flora Temple. This fact rests upon the testimony of Mr. Samuel Welch, a reputable and trustworthy man who owned the dam of Flora and had her coupled with this horse, under his own eye.
Edwin Forrest, the most prominent representative of this family, was a large and rather loosely made bay horse, foaled 1851, got by Young Bay Kentucky Hunter, son of Bay Kentucky Hunter, that was by the original Kentucky Hunter. His dam, Doll, bred by Mrs. Crane, of Whitestown, Oneida County, New York, was by Watkins’ Highlander; grandam a chestnut mare owned in the Crane family, by Black River Messenger, son of Ogden’s Messenger. The identification of this grandson of imported Messenger was secured after the appearance of the fifth volume of the “Register.” This same mare, Doll, the next year produced Wamock’s Highland Messenger, that was taken to Kentucky, and was a valuable element in the road-horse blood of that State. Edwin Forrest was bred by Barnes Davis, Oneida, Madison County; owned two years by H. L. Barker, of Clinton, New York, sold to Marcus Downing, of Kentucky, by him to Woodburn Farm, and after a time he passed to a company at Keokuk, Iowa, and then to George W. Ferguson, of Marshalltown, Iowa, where he was burned up in 1874.
It has been said this horse was a pacer and converted to a trotter, but this does not seem to be sustained by the facts. He was shown as a three-year-old at the Oneida County Fair, and he was then a square natural trotter and was considered very fast, for he was fully able to distance all the other colts of his age. The story of his being a pacer probably grew out of the fact that there was a strong pacing strain in the family, as the original Kentucky Hunter was undoubtedly a pacer. Many of the Kentucky Hunters were speedy travelers and a few of them were fast. Black River Messenger was a horse of very wide local reputation for the superiority of his progeny as rapid travelers. The union of the Messenger blood with pacing blood produced excellent results in this, as well as in thousands of other cases. As was the common usage before the establishment of the “Trotting Register,” this horse was advertised with two fictitious crosses added to his pedigree—his grandam was given as by Duroc, and his great-grandam as by imported Messenger. Only two from his loins were able to enter the 2:30 list; six of his sons got seven performers and twelve of his daughters produced fifteen trotters.