THE QUIETUDE STUD
DANIEL LAMBERT
COMMENT ON EARLY MORGANS
I, Charles H. Williamson, of the Town of Middlebury, County of Addison, and State of Vermont,
on oath depose and
say that:
I was born in 1841, at Middlebury, Vt.: I remember old Black Hawk as the first Morgan horse that ever impressed me: he was a very black horse and stood a trifle over 15 hands, and would weigh about 1000 pounds; was very
stocky made, round barrel, good back and strong loins, rounding hips and smooth over the hips, beautiful head and small ears; carried his tail straight behind him and well up; was a good knee actor for a horse of those days; was a square trotter; General Gates is like Black Hawk excepting in height and size: Black Hawk was about an inch taller than Gates.
My father has owned, at a time, from 16 to 20 Morgan livery horses of the Black Hawk strain that would average from 900 up to 1000 pounds—sometimes a little short of 900. As the Black Hawk family would run, throughout the country, they would average in height 15 hands and weigh about 950 to 1000. the Black Hawk stallions that I have known would average 15 hands and that is putting it small; I should say from 151 to 153, and would weigh 1050 pounds.
The Foot horse would stand 15 hands and weigh 1050, the Lapham was nearer 16 hands and would weigh 1200; the Stukley Smith horse was not quite as big as the Lapham horse, but would weigh 1150 to 1175; the Hammond horse would weigh 1200 and stand 16 hands; for style, and action and gait they were all good style and good action, and all trotters; I never saw any pacers from Black Hawk.
At the time of Black Hawk the other horses shown in competition with him, at the first State Fair held at Middlebury, were Green Mountain, ridden by Mr. Hale, and he was a great actor; would stand 153 and weigh 1150 pounds, a chestnut horse with two white hind legs and a beautiful waving mane and tail, and his foretop was waving; he was a trotter; I don’t remember which horse won; at the same Fair Flying Morgan was also shown; he was a smaller horse, a trifle under 15 hands, possibly not over 14.3, had nice style, was round made, and a pretty bay horse; was a pure gaited trotter; would weigh 900.
The Black Hawk Family
As I remember, the Black Hawk family of horses shown throughout this country in competition with other horses, were always the winners; they had the beauty, style, endurance and action; the enduring road qualities of the Black Hawk family couldn’t be bettered; I drove a pair of Morgan horses from the old Black Hawk stock, from Middlebury to Rutland in three hours and five minutes, and it rained half the way down there, and I carried a man with me. I put the horses into a barn and fed them four quarters of oats apiece and got my dinner and drove them home the same day,—68 miles in all; the next day was Monday, and I hitched them to a three seater and carried a load to the top of Grand View Mountain; you couldn’t find a pair that could do that to-day; the pair would not weigh over 1850 pounds.
I remember Ethan Allen; he was a bay horse,—would stand about 15 hands nicely formed, beautiful head and neck and would weigh 1025,—was a beautiful made horse; his gait was a square trot; he founded a distinct family and their characteristics were good they would run about the same size as the Black Hawks.
I remember Daniel Lambert very well,—saw him when he died; he would stand about 15 hands, and he looked quite big when harnessed; would weigh about 1000,—would have to be pretty fat to weigh much more than that; he had fine style and beauty and was a square trotter; he founded a distinct family that would run all the way from 14:i to 15 hands; they were horses of substance and you would think they were all trotters, were as good gaitered as you could pick out; I don’t know that I ever saw a pacer of the old Black Hawk breed; I don’t remember any Morgan horses that were pacers, they were all trotters.
Speaking of all these horses, their enduring road qualities were good; you never could drive them so far in one day but what you could get them back the next; the Lamberts have shown at fairs all through the Valley, and always have carried off the blue ribbon.
STATE OF VERMONT, County of Addison:
Personally appeared at Middlebury, Vermont, on the 17th
day of March, 1911, the above named Charles H. Williamson,
and took oath to the foregoing statements.
Before me
Note: Isaac Williamson, father of Charles, ran a livery stable in Middlebury for many years and Charles was a partner in the business after the Civil War until after his father died, and then continued the business for several years after. Isaac drove stages from Boston to Montreal for years before located at Middlebury.
S. W. Parlin 1905
Daniel Lambert, the most noted son of Ethan Allen as a sire, was bred by William H. Cook, Ticonderoga, N.Y., and foaled in 1858. When only a few days old he was bought by Uncle John Porter of Ticonderoga, N.Y., to be delivered at weaning time four months old for $300. if we remember correctly. Mr. Porter named the colt Hippomones. His dam was by old Abdallah, and his second dam by Stockholm's American Star. The latter was by Duroc, son of imported Diomed, and it is stated upon good authority that his dam was inbred to imported Messenger.
Though inbred to Messenger, his size, conformation, style, road qualities were most emphatically Morgan. He was a light chestnut in color with a white stripe in his face and left hind foot and pastern white. We saw him many times and remember him as a remarkable handsome horse. When in his prime no horse could be found that equaled him in beauty of conformation, elegance of style, grace of carriage and poise, ease and elasticity of gait, excellence of quality and fineness of finish combined.
He was of the Morgan pattern, stood strong fifteen hands in height, and was a horse of substance. He had a neat, bony head, large, expressive eyes, set well apart, short, lively ears always carried perfect, a clean cut throttle, handsomely arched neck of good length, well set upon strong oblique shoulders, which gave him an upheaded, lofty appearance. His back was of medium length, and very strong, ribs well sprung from the spine, giving him a round barrel, which was also deep, of good length and well-ribbed back to the hips. His loin was broad and well muscled, coupling strong and smooth, hips long and smoothly turned; croup rather straight, the whirlbone and tail set high, quarters strongly muscled, hocks well let down, forearms long, broad and muscular, cannons short, bones of the leg of good size in proportion to weight of body. His hind leg was fairly straight, but the lower part was joined to the hock at something of an angle, giving the leg a conformation like that found in many speedy trotters. His pasterns were short and strong, his feet well shaped and of the right size to harmonize with his limbs and barrel. The Morgans were the handsomest horses in the world, and Daniel Lambert in his prime was the handsomest of the Morgan tribe.
Few horses have ever lived that possessed greater power of stamping their likeness uniformly upon their offspring and imparting to them the ability to perpetuate their good qualities through succeeding generations, as did this renowned son of Ethan Allen. Daniel Lambert was a fast natural trotter. He showed so much speed as a three-year-old that his owner, Mr. Porter, sent the colt to the noted trainer, Dan Mace, who handled him some and started him in a three-year-old race at the Old Saugus track, October 22, 1861. Lady Anderson won the first heat in 2.49 Ω, but Daniel Lambert took the next two in 2.43, 2.42. After the race Dan Mace went into the stand and announced that he would match Daniel Lambert against any three-year-old trotter in the world for $5,000 or $10,000 a side. He was a very spirited, "high-strung" colt. It has been stated upon good authority that not long after the above race, while Dan Mace was working him out one day, Daniel Lambert did something that displeased Mace and he gave the colt a sharp, stinging cut with the whip. This roused the old Abdallah spirit in the colt, and, if we were correctly informed, he ran two miles on the track before Mace could stop him. That injudicious blow spoiled Daniel Lambert for a track performer, and he was never raced afterwards.
When Daniel Lambert was coming five years old Mr. Porter sold him for $3,000 through A.C. Harris, to R.S. Denny. Mr. Denny spent a portion of the summer months at Saratoga, N.Y., and had Daniel Lambert taken t here for a road horse. Mr. Harris informed the writer that the son of Ethan Allen produced a marked sensation at that fashionable resort, not only on account of his beauty and matchless style in harness, but also for his remarkable speed at the trot. He was the acknowledged king of the best roadsters in the country, that were owned and kept there by the wealthy pleasure seekers gathered at Saratoga. Mr. Denny finally sold Daniel Lambert to Benjamin Bates, proprietor of the famous Bates Farm. Watertown, Mass., and Cream Hill farm, Shoreham, Vt.
The latter was a dairy farm, stocked with choice Jersey cows and managed by A.C. Harris, who had charge of Daniel Lambert when the horse was at Saratoga. Mr. Bares sent the horse, which had then been named Daniel Lambert, to Mr. Harris at Cream Hill farm in the spring or early summer of 1866, with instructions to stand him for stock purposes. Lambert made twelve seasons at Shoreham and received a very generous patronage. During those twelve seasons upwards of 1,040 mares were mated with him. After the death of Mr. Bates in the fall of 1877, Daniel Lambert was sent to the Bates farm, Watertown, Mass., where he stood for three seasons in charge of the courteous horseman, William Tourtelotte.
In 1880 Gen. W.T. Withers, proprietor of the world-renowned Fairlawn farm, Lexington, Ky., and then one of the best-posted of all the trotting horse breeders in America, visited Boston for the purpose of inspecting Daniel Lambert and his get, and was so well pleased with the horse that he arranged with a prominent business man of Boston to buy him. The General believed Lambert just suited to mares at Fairlawn. Before the deal was completed, however, David Snow of this city bought the horse, then coming twenty-three years old, for $3,500, and sent him to his farm in Andover, Mass. At the close of 1880 Daniel Lambert was credited with eighteen trotters in the 2.30 list, a greater number that stood to the credit of any other sire then living, and of any other sire that had ever lived, except Rysdyk's Hambletonian, that was then credited with thirty-three. Mr. Snow advanced the service fee of Daniel Lambert to $200 the first season that he stood him at Andover.
Believing that the horse was the greatest sire that ever lived, Mr. Snow disposed of all his trotting stock at auction. Daniel Lambert was shown to bridle at the sale, with his groom running by his side, and was that day the most elegant, aristocratic appearing and easiest moving horse that we ever saw shown that way. The bidding on him was spirited and Mr. J.D. Ryder of Middlebury, Vermont, who represented a syndicate of horsemen, secured him for $1,550. The horse was taken to Middlebury, Vermont, and kept there until his death, which occurred June 29, 1889. He was then upwards of thirty-one years old, but was as sound and free from blemishes as when foaled. No other horse of his day did as much to improve the beauty, style and road qualities of the horse stock of New England. As a family the descendants of Daniel Lambert are very sensitive animals. They resent harsh treatment most emphatically. Rough, loud-voiced persons who are accustomed to yanking their horses by the bit and use the whip freely had better pass them by and confine themselves to animals of a more lethargic temperament. Treated gently but firmly, as all intelligent, high-spirited horses should be treated, they are as docile and obedient as any reasonable man can wish.
Many of the get of Daniel Lambert were handsome enough and stylish enough to win blue ribbons in the show ring, and he perpetuated these desirable qualities through a large proportion of his sons and daughters. Many of his fastest trotters and best roadsters were from dams of Black Hawk descent, as were also his five most successful sons as sires. Daniel Lambert is credited with thirty-eight that have made records in standard time, all pure-gaited trotters. He is also credited with thirty-six sons that have sired one hundred and twenty-two trotters and thirty pacers superior to any other stallion that has ever stood in New England, and, opportunities considered, will rank high in this respect among the best that ever lived. His daughters have already produced not less than one hundred and nine that have made records in standard time, and eight-nine of them are trotters. The fastest performers and best campaigners got by many prominent trotting sires have been from daughters of Daniel Lambert.
When Daniel Lambert was coming five years old Mr. Porter sold him for $3,000 through A.C. Harris, to R.S. Denny. Mr. Denny spent a portion of the summer months at Saratoga, N.Y., and had Daniel Lambert taken t here for a road horse. Mr. Harris informed the writer that the son of Ethan Allen produced a marked sensation at that fashionable resort, not only on account of his beauty and matchless style in harness, but also for his remarkable speed at the trot. He was the acknowledged king of the best roadsters in the country, that were owned and kept there by the wealthy pleasure seekers gathered at Saratoga. Mr. Denny finally sold Daniel Lambert to Benjamin Bates, proprietor of the famous Bates Farm. Watertown, Mass., and Cream Hill farm, Shoreham, Vt.
The latter was a dairy farm, stocked with choice Jersey cows and managed by A.C. Harris, who had charge of Daniel Lambert when the horse was at Saratoga. Mr. Bares sent the horse, which had then been named Daniel Lambert, to Mr. Harris at Cream Hill farm in the spring or early summer of 1866, with instructions to stand him for stock purposes. Lambert made twelve seasons at Shoreham and received a very generous patronage. During those twelve seasons upwards of 1,040 mares were mated with him. After the death of Mr. Bates in the fall of 1877, Daniel Lambert was sent to the Bates farm, Watertown, Mass., where he stood for three seasons in charge of the courteous horseman, William Tourtelotte.
In 1880 Gen. W.T. Withers, proprietor of the world-renowned Fairlawn farm, Lexington, Ky., and then one of the best-posted of all the trotting horse breeders in America, visited Boston for the purpose of inspecting Daniel Lambert and his get, and was so well pleased with the horse that he arranged with a prominent business man of Boston to buy him. The General believed Lambert just suited to mares at Fairlawn. Before the deal was completed, however, David Snow of this city bought the horse, then coming twenty-three years old, for $3,500, and sent him to his farm in Andover, Mass. At the close of 1880 Daniel Lambert was credited with eighteen trotters in the 2.30 list, a greater number that stood to the credit of any other sire then living, and of any other sire that had ever lived, except Rysdyk's Hambletonian, that was then credited with thirty-three. Mr. Snow advanced the service fee of Daniel Lambert to $200 the first season that he stood him at Andover.
Believing that the horse was the greatest sire that ever lived, Mr. Snow disposed of all his trotting stock at auction. Daniel Lambert was shown to bridle at the sale, with his groom running by his side, and was that day the most elegant, aristocratic appearing and easiest moving horse that we ever saw shown that way. The bidding on him was spirited and Mr. J.D. Ryder of Middlebury, Vermont, who represented a syndicate of horsemen, secured him for $1,550. The horse was taken to Middlebury, Vermont, and kept there until his death, which occurred June 29, 1889. He was then upwards of thirty-one years old, but was as sound and free from blemishes as when foaled. No other horse of his day did as much to improve the beauty, style and road qualities of the horse stock of New England. As a family the descendants of Daniel Lambert are very sensitive animals. They resent harsh treatment most emphatically. Rough, loud-voiced persons who are accustomed to yanking their horses by the bit and use the whip freely had better pass them by and confine themselves to animals of a more lethargic temperament. Treated gently but firmly, as all intelligent, high-spirited horses should be treated, they are as docile and obedient as any reasonable man can wish.
Many of the get of Daniel Lambert were handsome enough and stylish enough to win blue ribbons in the show ring, and he perpetuated these desirable qualities through a large proportion of his sons and daughters. Many of his fastest trotters and best roadsters were from dams of Black Hawk descent, as were also his five most successful sons as sires. Daniel Lambert is credited with thirty-eight that have made records in standard time, all pure-gaited trotters. He is also credited with thirty-six sons that have sired one hundred and twenty-two trotters and thirty pacers superior to any other stallion that has ever stood in New England, and, opportunities considered, will rank high in this respect among the best that ever lived. His daughters have already produced not less than one hundred and nine that have made records in standard time, and eight-nine of them are trotters. The fastest performers and best campaigners got by many prominent trotting sires have been from daughters of Daniel Lambert.
A PORTFOLIO OF GREAT SIRES OF THE LATE 19th CENTURY / 1896
No trotting family has ever bred to a type in all branches and generations so perfectly as that founded by Justin Morgan. In Ethan Allen the type was believed to have reached its acme, but it was reserved for one of his sons to show that nature could yet farther go. Ethan was, perhaps, a paragon--but in Daniel Lambert the peculiar excellencies of the Morgans attained a still higher degree of perfection and produced a still greater horse.
His beauty was a natural legacy from his sire. That he proved a greater stallion was undoubtedly due to his dam. On the maternal side Ethan was lacking, but Daniel Lambert had for dam Fanny Cook, daughter of Abdallah, the sire of Rysdykís Hambletonian, while his grandam was sired by Stockholmís American Star, the reputed sire of Seelyís American Star--which stout and proven strains, mingled with his Morgan blood, served as its best complement and resulted in the production of a stallion who combined, to a remarkable degree, most of the virtues and few of the faults of each.
Ticonderoga, New York where his sire first saw the light was also Daniel Lamberts birth-place. He was bred by William H. Cook, and was foaled in 1859. In color he was a chestnut sorrel, rather light, with a blonde mane and tail, and in height lacked but a fraction of an inch of being 15 1/2 hands. He had his sires peculiarly shaped hind leg, but otherwise the same beauty and elegance, only one carried to a still more exquisite degree of refinement and symmetry, his head being as fine as an Arabs, and his bodily lines well-nigh perfect, while in deportment and carriage he was quite matchless. His natural speed was of a high order, and his three-year old record of 2:24, in 1861, was the fastest then on record by a stallion of his age. It was made in his only race, for what promised to be a brilliant racing career was ruined by a hasty blow of the whip, which he never forgot nor forgave.
His first regular stud season was made in 1866 at Shoreham, Vermont where he continued in service for eleven years. Thence he was taken to the Bates farm, at Watertown, Massachusetts; thence , in four seasons. In 1884 he became the property of a stock company and was placed at the stud in Vermont, at Bread Loaf Farms, Middlebury and Weybridge, where he died June 29, 1889, aged thirty-one Daniel Lambert was without question the greatest of New England sires. He got, in all, thirty campaigners, and the majority from mares of the most indifferent pedigree. His sons, for their opportunities, were uniform sires of speed, while as a broodmare sire he ranks among the foremost. Ultimately it is probably that his daughters will have over one hundred performers to their credit, and no tribe of matrons is held in higher estimation. Daniel Lamberts success in transmitting his physical beauty was remarkable, and the finish and elegance which a strain of his blood imparts is one of its most valuable traits.