Happy Friday! Here is your First Friday Flashback, especially researched and written for you Lippitt Morgan fans by historian Betsy Curler:
Brown Harry 4795
Brown Harry. An innocuous name for a seemingly innocuous horse who is virtually an unknown. However, A.F. Phillips deemed him to be a “priceless jewel,” which “ought to satisfy any student of Morgan Horse genealogy.” This was credited to his maternal dam line, as each mare from his [first] dam back to his fifth dam, were all “remarkable” individuals. In addition to that, Brown Harry was intensely inbred to Sherman Morgan, primarily through Billy Root 9.
Although Joseph Battell credits William M. Smith as Brown Harry’s breeder, Phillips states that his breeder was William’s wife, Adeline. Brown Harry was heavily inbred to Sherman Morgan, the Justin Morgan son of choice in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, primarily through Sherman Morgan’s son Billy Root. Fate played a role in Brown Harry’s potential career as a sire.
In the post-Civil War era, Morgans were not in demand in the city markets as they were not as fast at ‘short’ (i.e., race track) distances as other horses. Eventually, the nostalgia for a trappy, fancy Morgan emerged and buyers began to again seek out the old-style Morgan in the 1880’s. A movement for the restoration for the Morgan breed was in its infancy when Brown Harry was foaled in 1886. Owner William Smith passed away unexpectedly in 1891, when the horse was just five years old. The farm was sold soon after.
What became of Brown Harry is not known. He would have been sold; whether as a breeding stallion, or gelded, is unknown. Phillips notes that he was a very prepotent sire of valuable stock. With the exception of his daughter Maggie W. 03425, bred by neighbor Oscar Walter, none of his offspring were registered.
Brown Harry was sired by the equally obscure stallion Billy Folsom 677, a son of the Streeter Horse. The latter was bred by Austin Folsom, a dairy farmer and sugarmaker residing in nearby Lyndon, Vermont. His dam was a bay mare by the Shedd Horse, son of Vermont Morgan Champion. The Folsom Horse was a 15-hand bay and passed his height on to Brown Harry, who was also 15 hands.
Brown Harry’s dam was a black mare by Charley Watson 813 (x Black Morgan 810), that was bred by William Smith (above). The dam of Charley Watson was a daughter of Wood’s Comet. Wood’s Comet was a son of Billy Root 9 and out of a daughter of Royal Morgan 11 (x Sherman Morgan).
Brown Harry’s second dam was a bay mare bred by Elam Walter, Widow Smith’s first husband, by the Coe Horse 5277 (x Billy Root 9). The dam of the Coe Horse was a daughter of Royal Morgan 11, son of Sherman Morgan out of a daughter of Justin Morgan. The “very remarkable” mare known as The Milking Stool (x Billy Root 9) was the third dam of Brown Harry.
The John Darling mare, daughter of Royal Morgan 11, was the fourth dam and was noted for her endurance. Phillips considered this mare to be a foundation mare and she appeared in the pedigree of many of his broodmares.
The fifth dam of Brown Harry is not recorded in the AMHR, but due to the diligence of Phillips we learn that she was a daughter of Sherman Morgan, known as the Jim Clarke mare. This mare was also the fifth dam of Billy Roberts 4550 and the seventh dam of Borden’s Ethan Allen 3rd 3987.
Brown Harry possessed not only intense inbreeding to Billy Root 9, but also to Sherman Morgan, the sire of Billy Root. The additional Sherman Morgan blood came through Royal Morgan, Wood’s Comet and Vermont Morgan Champion, plus the ubiquitous un-named mares who were by, or descendants of, Sherman Morgan. It is a shame that we do not know more about Brown Harry, as an individual, but we do know he was admired by Phillips as a sire and for his breeding.
(Note from page administrator: there are no known photos or woodcuts of Brown Harry. We feature here his daughter Maggie W and three of her daughters. Both Hippolyta and Emily were later chosen as foundation stock for the Lippitt Morgan. HJ)
