The merits and demerits of this family are very marked. The head of it seems to have possessed great nerve force and an unmistakable instinct to trot, but he was irritable and vicious in his temper. Both these qualities—the desirable and the undesirable alike—he seems to have transmitted to his offspring. I have seen Gooding’s Champion, and he had the temper and disposition of his grandsire. It appears that the original Champion was a shy breeder, and I am disposed to think he inherited this infirmity from his sire, Almack, and whether the inability of his sons and grandsons to get sires of trotters may be accounted for from this cause would be a very difficult question to answer. There are several others of this family, East and West, that have single representatives in the 2:30 list, that I have not enumerated, but from the statistics, as they now stand, it seems probable that whatever is good in this family will be swallowed up in other tribes that are more prepotent and positive in the trotting instinct.
Norman, or the Morse Horse.—This horse was originally named “Norman,” but in later years he was more generally and widely known as The Morse Horse. His family is not large, but some of his descendants have shown great speed and great racing qualities. His origin and breeding as given below have resulted from a wide and laborious correspondence, and, I think, can be accepted as trustworthy. He was bred by James McNitt, of Hartford, Washington County, New York, who was a large farmer and distiller. He was foaled 1834, got by European; dam Beck, by Harris’ Hambletonian; grandam Mozza, by Peacock, son of imported Messenger. He was fifteen and three-quarter hands high, a dark iron grey when young, and became white with age. He had plenty of bone, was handsome and a natural trotter. Something of the history of the animals entering into this pedigree is important and I will try to give it in as brief form as possible.
The breeder, Mr. McNitt, was in the habit of visiting Montreal at least once a year with the products of his farm and his distillery. On one occasion he brought back three horses with him, two “Canucks” and a very elegant grey horse that he called European, that was evidently somewhat advanced in years and was a little knee-sprung from the effects of hard driving. The two “Canucks” were fast trotters, but European could beat either of them. Mr. McNitt represented that this horse had been imported into Canada from Normandy in France and doubtless he believed it, but there were none of the French characteristics about him. He was purchased in Montreal about 1829 and died in Washington County about 1836. The dam and grandam of the Morse Horse were bred by Mr. Joseph T. Mills, of the town of Argyle, in Washington County. Beck, the dam, was a bright bay mare about sixteen hands high. At weaning time Mr. Mills sold her to Robert Stewart, of Greenwich, and at three years old he sold her to Mr. McNitt. She was got by Harris’ Hambletonian, when he was kept by John Williams, Jr. This is established quite satisfactorily and circumstantially. Mozza, the dam of Beck, was a chestnut mare, without marks, and was got by Peacock, a son of imported Messenger that was owned by Mr. Emerson in Saratoga County and was afterward burned up in his stable. This son of Messenger, called Peacock, was entirely new to me when I was investigating this pedigree in 1876 and I was disposed to reject it, but Mr. Mills certainly had a horse of that name and he represented him to be a son of Messenger, and he probably was, but I do not know that he was so bred.
Mr. McNitt sold the colt at three years old to Martin Stover, who lived on his place, for eighty dollars; the next year Stover sold him to James Mills. In 1840 Mills sold him to Mr. Tefft and Zack Adams, and they sold him not long after to Philip Allen and Calvin Morse, of White Creek. Mr. Morse had him a number of years and when old sold him to Mr. Grant, and he died at Spiegletown in Renssalaer County, New York. He was a very perfect, natural trotter, and his speed was developed to some extent. In August, 1847 or 1848, Mr. Morse put him into the hands of John Case, of Saratoga Springs, the driver of Lady Moscow, to prepare him for the State Fair, at which he expected to meet the famous Black Hawk. Mr. J. L. D. Eyclesheimer, a very intelligent gentleman, formerly of the region of Saratoga, wrote that while the horse was in Case’s hands, he, with Mr. Morse, timed him a full mile in 2:40½. At the State Fair he was all out of fix and Black Hawk beat him in the second and third heats. He won the first heat in 2:52½. In the rivalries between stallions at agricultural fairs, however, is a very poor place to look for fair work and fair judgment, either from the stand or from the spectators.
General Taylor was a grey horse, foaled 1847, got by the Morse Horse, dam the trotting mare Flora, a New York road mare of unknown breeding. He was bred by the brothers Eyclesheimer, then of Pittstown, New York. He was taken to Janesville, Wisconsin, 1850, and thence to California, 1854, where he trotted thirty miles against time in one hour forty-seven minutes and fifty-nine seconds. He also beat New York a ten-mile race in 29:41½. This horse has no representative in the 2:30 list, but his blood has always been very highly esteemed in California for its speed, but more especially for its game qualities. Honest Ance was another son of the Morse Horse that did a great deal of racing in California, although he has no record in the 2:30 list. He was a chestnut gelding, and was managed by the notorious Jim Eoff, who was always ready to win or to lose as the money seemed to suggest.
Norman (Alexander’s) was a brown horse, foaled about 1846, got by the Morse Horse, son of European; dam one of a pair of brown mares purchased by John N. Slocum of Samuel Slocum, a Quaker of Leroy, Jefferson County, New York, and represented to be by Magnum Bonum. These mares passed to Mr. Russell, and from him to Titcomb & Waldron, who bred the better of the two to the Morse Horse, and the produce was Alexander’s Norman. This colt passed through several hands till he reached Henry L. Barker, of Clinton, New York, and about 1860, he sold him to the late R. A. Alexander, of Woodburn Farm, Kentucky. He died 1878. The original version of this pedigree, as put upon Mr. Alexander and advertised by him, as were many others, was wholly fictitious on the side of the dam. He was not retained long at Woodburn Farm. He does not seem to have been a uniform transmitter of speed, but when it did appear it was apt to be of a high order. He left but two representatives in the 2:30 list, Lula, 2:15, with fifty-six heats, and May Queen, 2:20, with twenty-five heats. He left four sons that became the sires of fifty-eight performers and thirteen daughters that produced nineteen performers. Such sons as Swigert and Blackwood speak well for his transmitting powers.
Swigert was a brown horse, foaled 1866, got by Alexander’s Norman, son of the Morse Horse; dam Blandina, by Mambrino Chief; grandam the Burch Mare, by Brown Pilot, son of Copper Bottom, pacer. He was bred at Woodburn Farm, Kentucky, and when young became the property of Richard Richards, of Racine, Wisconsin, where he remained many years and passed to F. J. Ayres, of Burlington, Wisconsin. As a prepotent sire this horse stands high in the list of great horses. This may be accounted for in great part by the speed-producing qualities which he inherited from his dam. I am not informed as to the amount of training he may have had, nor of the rate of speed he may have been able to show. He placed forty-four trotters and two pacers in the 2:30 list. Thirty-three of his sons became the sires of sixty-one trotters and fourteen pacers. Twenty-three of his daughters produced twenty-one trotters and six pacers. From the number of his sons that have already shown their ability to get trotters, it is fair to presume that his name will be perpetuated. He died in 1892.
Blackwood was a black horse, foaled 1866, got by Alexander’s Norman, son of the Morse Horse; dam by Mambrino Chief; grandam a fast trotting dun mare, brought from Ohio, pedigree unknown. He was bred by D. Swigert, Spring Station, Kentucky, and foaled the property of Andrew Steele, of Scott County, Kentucky. At five years old he was sold to John W. Conley, and by him to Harrison Durkee, of New York, and was afterward owned at Ticonderoga, New York. He made a record of 2:31 when three years old, which, at that day, was considered phenomenal for a colt of that age. His opportunities in the stud were not of the best, but nine of his progeny entered the 2:30 list; eleven of his sons got twenty performers, and twenty-five of his daughters produced thirty-seven performers.