The Horse of America in His Derivation, History, and Development

by John Hankins Wallace

Mambrino (Grey).—This son of Messenger was foaled about 1800, his dam was by Pulaski, grandam by Wilkes; great-grandam by True Briton. He was bred by Benjamin C. Ridgeway, near Mount Holly, New Jersey. In 1807 he stood at Flemington under the name of Fox Hunter. He was purchased by Richard Isaac Cooper, who resold him to William Atkinson for about one thousand two hundred dollars. He was a flea-bitten grey, mane and tail white, handsome and stylish, about sixteen hands high, head medium size, and a good, well-formed horse at every point, except his feet, which were big and flat. He was probably never harnessed and was a very popular stallion in Salem and adjoining counties for many years. Mr. Atkinson was a very prominent and influential member of the Society of Friends, and “Billy” Atkinson was always a welcome guest as he traveled through Salem, Gloucester, and Burlington counties with his horse, and his genial good humor made him as popular as his horse. He always claimed great speed for his horse; but owing to his position in the society he never could gratify his friends by showing it. When his offspring came into service they were not only performers of great merit on the road and the course, but they had bone and substance that fitted them for every kind of labor required of them. All the Quakers had Mambrinos and nothing else, after “Billy” Atkinson and his horse had been among them a few years. Some of his descendants attained to great local fame as trotters and some did well as runners. He was a very valuable horse and left a wonderfully numerous and valuable offspring.

Black Messenger.—Among all the progeny of Messenger, this is the only one that I can now recall that was black. He was bred by William Haselton, of Burlington County, New Jersey, and out of a mare highly prized in the Haselton family, but her blood cannot now be traced. He was foaled in 1801 and on the death of Mr. Haselton in 1804 he was sold to Charles or Richard Wilkins of Evesham, ten miles from Camden, New Jersey, who owned him till he died at an advanced age. As the birth of this horse is fixed by documentary evidence at 1801 it suggests that Messenger was kept in Burlington County, New Jersey, the unplaced season of 1800. Still as he was at Lawrenceville in the fall season of 1800 it is possible the mare was sent to him there. He was full sixteen hands high and possessed great muscular development and strength of bone. He was not handsome, but his figure and style were very commanding. In his day he was regarded as one of the best natural trotters ever in Burlington or Gloucester counties. This was not the claim of his owner merely, but the unprejudiced opinion of all the horsemen who knew him. His stock were very highly prized as horses suited to all purposes and especially for fast road work. Some of them were greatly distinguished locally as fast trotters, and among them was Nettle, the dam of the famous Dutchman, that was the greatest trotter of his day.

Whynot Messenger, Pizzant’s Messenger, Austin’s Messenger, and Cousin’s Messenger were all sons of Messenger and got by him while he was in West Jersey, but as nothing has been developed concerning their maternal breeding nor the character of their progeny, I will pass them over with this bare record that such horses existed.

Saratoga.—This son of Messenger was a flea-bitten grey and was foaled about 1805. It is believed he was bred on Long Island, but nothing is known of the blood of his dam. He was driven in harness and did service in several counties in Pennsylvania, and was sold at auction in Philadelphia to James Dubois of Salem, New Jersey. He was a great, strong horse, and was kept at work on the farm of his owner, covering mares only as opportunity offered. He was a slashing trotter, but it was only when his owner was away from home and got an extra drink or two that anybody ever had an opportunity to see how fast he could go. A number of his progeny were fast trotters; among them a mare called Charlotte Gray that was the fastest of her day in all that region. Among his sons, one called Dove was greatly distinguished in the stud.

Nestor and Delight.—These were sons of Messenger, the former bred in Orange County, New York, in 1802, and was at Warwick in that county, 1807 in charge of Nehemiah Finn. The latter was bred in Westchester County in 1806, and made the season of 1827 at Warwick, New York, in charge of John G. Blauvelt, and is probably the horse that was more widely known as Blauvelt’s Messenger. The breeding of the dams of both these horses is very uncertain.

Mount Holly was a grey horse, fifteen and a half hands high. He was foaled about 1807 and was bred by Colonel Udell, of Long Island. His dam was by Bajazet, and his grandam was by Bashaw. Not much is known of him till he was well advanced in years and was taken to Dutchess County. Daniel T. Cock knew him well on the island, and he assured me he was a trotter in the true sense of the word. The late Mr. Daniel B. Haight, a horseman of excellent judgment and knowledge, knew him very well, and he describes him as of the true Messenger grey, and a smooth, well-finished horse all over. His offspring were smooth, handsome, and remarkably tough, and from their kindly tempers they were easily managed and made horses fit for any service. The most noted of his get were the famous trotters Paul Pry and Mr. Tredwell’s grey mare that went to England. His cross appears in the pedigrees of many trotters and is very highly prized to this day. In the latter part of his life he was owned by Jacob Husted, of Washington Hollow, New York, and made several seasons there. His sight failed entirely as he grew old, and he died about 1835. With two such performers from his own loins as Paul Pry and the Tredwell mare, it cannot be doubted that he inherited and transmitted the true Messenger “trotting instinct,” and that without any assistance from the blood of his dam.

Plato was a large brown horse, fully sixteen hands high, and was a full brother to Bishop’s Hambletonian, being by Messenger, out of Pheasant. He was bred by General Coles, of Long Island, and was foaled 1802. As he matured the general judgment was that his limbs were too light for his body, and this is the only instance that I can recall where the get of Messenger failed at this vital point. He was trained and ran a few races, and from a trial with Miller’s Damsel General Coles said he was the best horse that ever ran against that famous mare. In a race against his half-brother, Sir Solomon, he won the first heat of four miles and broke down in the second, which finished him as a race horse. He was a larger and a handsomer horse than his full brother Hambletonian, but at no other point was he so good. When they stood in the same stable he was advertised at a lower price. He was a number of years in the stud on Long Island, New Jersey, and the river counties of New York, and after 1816 at Pine Plains there is no further trace of him. In his physical structure and doubtless, in his mental structure also, he took after his dam, and the only link now recalled coupling him with the trotter is the fact that he was the sire of the dam of Lewis’ Engineer, that was the sire of the great Lady Suffolk.

Dover Messenger was a grey horse, and was got by imported Messenger, but the blood of his dam and the year he was foaled are unknown. He was kept several seasons at South Dover, Dutchess County, New York, and left a very valuable progeny strongly endowed with the instinct to trot. He was taken to the town of Russia, in Herkimer County, where he died. There was a younger horse bearing practically the same name, a son of Mambrino Paymaster, with which this horse has often been confounded.

Coriander.—This son of Messenger was a bay horse, about fifteen and a half hands high; was foaled in Queens County, New York, about 1796, and his dam was by Allen’s Brown Figure; grandam by Rainbow; great-grandam by Dauphin. He seems to have been kept on Long Island as long as he lived. His progeny was much like their sire, and Mr. D. W. Jones describes them as “clean, wiry, and brilliant. In their make-up there seemed nothing wasted and nothing wanted.” He ran some races, as did many of his get. He was bred upon one of the early daughters of Hambletonian, and she produced the great trotter “Old Topgallant,” the sensation of his period and one of the most famous of the very early trotters. One of the most remarkable facts in the history of this remarkable old gelding is that he ran some races before he was trained to trot.

Fagdown.—This son of Messenger was bred on the Jersey side of the Delaware, not far from Philadelphia, and was foaled, I think, in 1803. His dam was represented to be by Diomed, and if this be correct it must have been Tate’s imported Diomed that was imported into New Jersey and kept there a number of years. This was a bay horse and must not be confounded with the chestnut horse of the same name imported into Virginia. Fagdown became vicious and dangerous, and from this trait in his character he was generally called the “Man Eater.” He was kept in the region of Philadelphia and south of there for many years, and left a very numerous and very valuable progeny. They were noted for their superior qualities as road horses, and some of them were very fast, for their day. For a number of years no family of horses were so popular about Philadelphia as the Fagdowns. He had a son called Cropped Fagdown that was fast, and another son called Jersey Fagdown that trotted some races against the great Andrew Jackson. Another son, named after his sire, was bred in Northeastern Maryland, and was taken to Eastern Ohio in 1829, and he was kept in Columbiana, Mahoning, and Jefferson counties for at least ten years. He was never in a race nor never trained, but his Quaker patrons all insisted that when led by the side of another horse he could trot as fast as a pretty good horse could run. This grandson of Messenger was the sire of the grandam of Wapsie, the well-known trotter and sire of Iowa.