“Early Morgan Horse Organizations”
Traditionally, the first Morgan horse registry, or stud book, was published by Joseph Battell in 1894. This large tome included all the horses listed in D.C. Linsley’s ‘Morgan Horses’ and quoted the remarks published therein. Organizations dedicated to the Morgan horse were organized in the late 1800’s in several states, plus a National Morgan Horse Breeders Association. The Vermont Morgan Horse Breeders Association took over Battell’s private endeavors to register Morgan horses sometime during the 1890’s or around 1900.
The Morgan Horse Club, as it was known prior to having its name changed in 1972 to American Morgan Horse Association, was organized in 1909 during the Vermont State Fair. Whatever became of the Vermont Morgan Horse Breeders Association is not clear. At the time of Joseph Battell’s death, the Morgan Horse Register was bequeathed to Middlebury College along with the bulk of Battell’s estate.
Even earlier organizations dedicated to the Morgan horse have recently come to light. It was reported in an April 1849 issue of the ‘Boston Cultivator’ that the Northern Morgan Horse Association had purchased Royal Morgan for $500. Royal Morgan would be 26 years old “next grass.” The association included twenty individuals from Derby, Newport, Charleston, and Brownington, Vermont, plus Stanstead and Barnston, Quebec.
Although it would appear that this organization was more likely a breeding/stallion syndicate, it had a stated purpose that a typical breeding syndicate would not have had. It also labeled itself an “association.” The association’s stated goal was to “perpetuate that noble race of [Morgan] horses and preserve it as nearly as possible in its original purity.” This is the first Morgan horse organization that has been found (to date) to exist.
In 1853, the first National Exhibition of Horses was held on Government Square in Springfield, Massachusetts. Morgan horses were the predominant breed (“a universally favorite breed”) presented and shown. The local newspaper, the ‘Springfield Republican,’ reported on the exhibition in some detail. In addition, it expressed the opinion that the “family history of the Morgans has never been faithfully written.” It suggested that breeders and owners of Morgan horses meet and appoint a committee “to investigate the matter and prepare a Morgan stud book.” In their opinion, “by such a publication only, will the purity of the breed be perpetuated.”
A short time later it was announced, that a Morgan stud book had been formed. [I cannot find the original source of information at this time.] The secretary of the above named Northern Morgan Horse Association and the newly named New England Morgan Horse Association was the same individual, Dr. Lemuel Richmond of Derby Line, Vermont. It is not known if the first organization became the second with a new name or if it was a “sister” organization to the one formed in 1849.
The accompanying advertisement for the stallion Morgan Figure (x Royal Morgan) appeared in the ‘Macon Weekly Telegraph’ for the 1857 breeding season. The pedigree is given as being provided by the secretary of the New England Morgan Horse Association. To date, these are the only mentions of either of these organizations. The importance is not only formally dating the “origin” of the breed much earlier than the 1894 publication of Battell’s ‘Morgan Horse Register,’ but the formation of a Morgan stud book makes it one of the earliest livestock stud books or registries in the United States. Certainly, other than that of the American Stud Book for Thoroughbreds, the first one for horses.
What became of it? That is one of those ubiquitous “Million Dollar Questions.” However, the format of the listing of the stallions in D.C. Linsley’s ‘Morgan Horses’ leads one to wonder if these are the very horses that were registered with the Morgan stud book (i.e., the New England Morgan Horse Association). The format is similar to that of early herd books (registries) for dairy cattle. A similar listing of Morgan stallions (of New Hampshire) is included in the 1857 agricultural report of New Hampshire.
