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.

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.

SKENANDOAH (afterward called Kentucky Hunter) was a bay horse, foaled 1854, got by Brokenlegged Hunter, son of the original Kentucky Hunter; dam not clearly established. He was bred by Mr. Sykes, near Canastota, and passed through several hands to Henry Dewey, of Morrisville, New York, who trotted him in a number of races in Central New York and then took him to California, where he was kept in the stud a number of years under the name of Kentucky Hunter, and died there 1871. He got one trotter; one son that left two performers and seven daughters that left nine performers.

DREW HORSE, commonly called “Old Drew,” was a brown bay horse, foaled 1842, and was about fifteen and one-quarter hands high and well-formed. He was bred, or rather raised, by Hiram Drew, then of Exeter, Maine, who kept him all his life. The story of his supposed sire was one of those weakly devised fictions, so common in that day, and especially where the Canadian border could be made effective in rounding it out. To show that the mysterious colt that became the sire of Drew Horse was “thoroughbred,” the stereotyped “British Army officer” is made available, for the hundredth time, as having brought a mare from England in foal to a thoroughbred horse, the foal was dropped and at three years old he was traded by the aforesaid “officer” to the party that brought the colt to Maine. Unfortunately for the story, the party who made the trade and the story had a bad memory, and sometimes he located the trade at St. Johns and sometimes at Fredericton, New Brunswick. But the fiction served its generation and was not exposed till long after the Drew Horse was dead. The facts in the matter seem to be simply these: a stallion colt was running in a pasture adjoining Mr. Drew’s pasture, and that colt got over the fence, was found with Mr. Drew’s mare, and in due time she dropped the colt known as the “Drew Horse.” The fence-breaker was soon after made a gelding and sold, and nothing is known of him, either before or after this escapade. The dam of the Drew Horse was a bay mare about fifteen and one-half hands high, foaled about 1836, and bred by Mark Pease, of Jackson, Maine. Her sire was called Sir Henry and was represented to be by a son of American Eclipse, that was taken to Maine from Connecticut by Dr. Brewster and sold to General F. W. Lander. She was known as Grace Darling and afterward as Boston Girl. She was on the turf and was quite a trotter, and it is claimed she made a record of 2:37, and her dam was Lady Jane by Winthrop Messenger. While I don’t know what the inheritance of this horse was on the side of his sire, I do know that he had a trotting inheritance on the side of his dam. He lived till 1866 and then had to be destroyed on account of a broken leg.

This horse was never trained, and it is not known what he might have been able to do as a trotter. He put two of his sons in the 2:30 list, Dirigo and General McClellan. Of his sons, two put five trotters and three pacers in the list, and of his daughters left six representatives there. Besides these he left a number of others with records a little short of the limit of speed, and many without records that were fast and very game roadsters.

DIRIGO, at first called George B. McClellan, under which name he made his record, was the best son of Drew Horse. He was a brown horse, and in appearance much like his sire. He was foaled 1856 and came out of a mare that has not been traced, but was doubtless a pacing mare. He was bred by Horace McKinney, Monroe, Maine, and passed to David Quimby, of Corinna, Maine, and died 1884. He made his record of 2:29 in a single heat and never was on the track again. Four trotters and two pacers by him entered the 2:30 list. Two of his sons became the sires of three trotters, and five of his daughters each produced a performer. He left others with and without records that were fast and stylish drivers.

HIRAM DREW, at first called Bay Morgan, was a son of Old Drew, and his dam was a small bay mare, owned near Bangor and said to be of Morgan blood. This horse was on the turf some years and was engaged in some locally important contests, but never was able to make himself standard either by his own or the performances of his progeny. His best performance, I believe, was 2:31½.

WINTHROP was a bay horse, foaled 1864, got by Drew Horse; dam by the Eton Horse and grandam by Stone or Simpson’s Messenger. He was bred by E. J. Greene, Newport, Maine; taken to California 1870, and there owned by Judge W. E. Greens and L. E. Yates, of Stockton. It does not appear that he ever was trained, and consequently has no record. His opportunities, probably, were not very great, but whether or not, he was not successful in the stud. He left one trotter and one pacer and the dams of one trotter and one pacer.

This family never was large, and its popularity was up and down just as a few individuals might be successful or unsuccessful on the turf. To start with, it had a very weak inheritance of trotting instinct, and that weakness did not strengthen in succeeding generations. Of late years it has failed to maintain itself as a trotting family, and is now practically out of the reckoning of trotters.

HIATOGA, generally known as Rice’s Hiatoga, was a bay pacing horse and was bred in Rockingham County, Virginia, and taken to Fairfield County, Ohio, by Edward Rice, some time about 1836. He had the reputation of being a fast pacer, and was sold to William Shiruo, of the same county, and by him to William Munger, in whose possession he died. He was got by a horse known in Virginia as Hiatoga, and also American Hiatoga, but nothing is known of the blood of his dam. Nothing is known of his speed or his progeny except through the two sons here given.

Hiatoga, generally designated as “Old Togue,” was got by Rice’s Hiatoga; dam by Thunderbolt, grandam by Black or Bold Rover. He was foaled 1843 and was bred by David W. Brown, of Perry County, Ohio; sold 1849 to John Joseph, Kirkersville, Ohio, where he made some seasons and was sold 1855 to Alvah Perry, Lancaster, where he remained till 1863, and was sold to Harvey Wilson, and two years later to William McDonald, Columbus, Ohio, where he died 1871. This horse left excellent stock and many of them fast pacers, but they never cut much figure on the turf.

HIATOGA (HANLEY’S) was a bay pacing horse of good size and quality and was very popular as a sire. He was foaled 1849, got by Rice’s Hiatoga; dam an elegant bay mare sixteen hands high and represented to be of “Sir Peter and Eclipse blood.” This mare was formerly given as by Firetail, but the present rendering, whatever it may mean, comes from sources with opportunities to know. He was bred by John Bright, of Fairfield County, sold to Joseph Watt, and taken to Harrison County and then to Jefferson County, and sold to James Davis Tweed. He next passed through the hands of David Rittenhouse and Moses Hanley, of Hopedale, Ohio, and after three or four years in the stud Mr. Hanley sold him to David Rittenhouse, John Wiley and Samuel Hanley for two thousand five hundred dollars, and he died the property of Mr. Rittenhouse near Hopedale, Ohio, 1858. Two of his progeny entered the 2:30 list; three of his sons left thirteen performers, and three daughters produced five.

HIATOGA (SCOTT’S) was a bay pacer foaled 1858, got by Hanley’s Hiatoga; dam by Blind Tuckahoe (pacer); grandam by Consul. This horse was quite fast and paced under the name of Tuscarawas Chief. He was the best of the family and was bred and owned by Samuel Scott, East Springfield, Jefferson County, Ohio. He put five trotters and four pacers in the 2:30 list; seven of his sons and seventeen of his daughters were producers.

The Hiatoga family seems to have no trotting inheritance except from the pacer. It is a useful family and still has vitality.