The Morgan Horse Blog

THE SELLMAN MORGANS

By Laura Stillwell Algranti

(first published in Classic Morgan Admirers, 1991. Reprinted 2005 by author, some revisions)

Descendants of the Sellman Morgans are today everywhere there are Morgans. Richard Sellman was the true “father” of the Western Working Family Morgans, for there are no Western Working Family Morgans today without crosses to Sellman’s Morgans, and his horses formed the foundation for many other breeders who also contributed to this family. But the Sellman Morgans are to be found in other Morgans today, often in unexpected places, and sometimes to the surprise of current day owners and breeders.

This article will examine the breeding program of Sellman deeply and throughly to an extent not previously done. There will be four parts: 1) the first part of the Sellman program, 2) the later years, 3) the Sellman horses through Roland Hill and other California breeders, 4) the Sellman horses through Thornhill and others.

(author’s note, 2005—the series was never completed and went far beyond just four parts)

MAJOR GORDON

Major Gordon was the first registered Morgan stallion used by Sellman, and his daughters form the foundation of Sellman’s program. The majority of Major Gordon’s daughters were never registered and many never had their names recorded in any way. Often, the name of a mare appears in the registration of her granddaughter but not in the registration of her daughter. There is overlap between the named mares and the unnamed mares. There are occasional discrepancies in dates, colours, and other facts leading to the conclusion that much of this was done from memory many years after the mares’ births and deaths. The most important thing to remember about Sellman’s breeding program was that he was breeding horses to use on his ranch. Males were rarely registered as they were gelded and used. Mares were registered only so that the next generation could be registered. Why Sellman even registered his horses is a mystery. At that time in Texas, there was no premium for registered animals. A horse was judged by its working ability, and a piece of paper meant little to the pragmatic ranchers. There was no Quarter Horse registry; there were yet no Quarter Horses, only the Quarter Horse fore- runners. Today’s breeders must be glad that Sellman did register his Morgans for if he had been like most horse breeders of that time and place, he would have bred horses, used them, sold them, and all those fine horses would today not exist in the breed. Keep in mind these conditions as this article unfolds.

MAJOR GORDON 4924 was black with a star and a little white on each hind foot, 16 hands, 1300 pounds. He was foaled about 1880. In 1886 he was sold to Sellman who wrote “Major Gordon had fine style and action, was owned by me from 1886 to 1899 when he died.” His dam was untraced. He was said to be by Young Octoroon 1715.

Young Octoroon 1715 was said to be by Octoroon 302 and out of a mare by old Joe Brown, son of Davy Crocket; 2nd dam was the Dr. Runyon saddle mare from upper Kentucky. It is not said which Davy Crocket. If from the Davy Crocket family of Blackburn’s Davy Crocket 603, then there was a good dose of pacing blood, for Blackburn’s Davy Crocket was believed to be of the Dansereau family of pacers. In any case, Young Octoroon ran, trotted and paced, winning races at those three gaits.

Young Octoroon’s sire was Octoroon 302, a dark chestnut of 16 hands, 1250 pounds, bred near Lexington, Ky., foaled in 1858. He was said to be by Comet 297 and out of a mare by Drennon, a son of Davy Crocket; the second dam by Bulrush Morgan. Octoroon was described as a large, stylish, handsome horse with a trappy, speedy trot. His colts were uniformly a good lot and stylish road horses. Others also said that he was a fine saddle and harness horse and produced excellent stock, especially for road use.

The sire of Octoroon 302 was Goff’s Comet 297, a dark chestnut foaled in 1849, 15 3/4 hands, 1240 pounds. His sire was Chittenden County Morgan 296 and his dam was by Putnam Morgan 33, a son of Woodbury Morgan. The second dam was by American Eclipse, son of Duroc. He was described as “…on short legs; had a heavy body; carried his head way up and one of the finest heads I have ever seen in every particular; … a good shoulder, back a little long, ribbed out round, a good hip and hind leg.” He was also described ” … distinguished as one of the best sires ever in this part of Kentucky, his colts being very fine. He was perfect in disposition, anybody could drive him; was a bold mover, a fine looker, and could trot very fast for those days. His colts were very valuable for all purposes, and were really the beginning of the improvement of horses in this county.”

Chittenden County Morgan 296 was Goff’s Comet’s sire. he was chestnut with silver mane and tail, 15 hands, 1000 pounds, foaled 1843. His sire was Putnam Morgan 33 by Woodbury Morgan. His dam was by Bulrush Morgan and the second dam said to be by Justin Morgan. He was described as not fast but a good horse and many of his colts showed speed.

Keeping Reading>>>

While researching a series of articles for The Morgan Horse Trotting Association on Famous Morgan Trotters and Pacers I began to notice how many, and which horses of the three famous trotting families went to the west and midwest. In time, and as I traced those families down to the present certain names of horses and people became very commonplace. For instance, the Bulrush family of race horses were the Morrills, and Mr. Richard Sellman used horses of this line extensively. In Volume III of The Morgan Horse Register there are at least, 104 horses registered of Bulrush blood , through the stallion Winnebago Chief. The majority of these horses were bred by Mr. Sellman and were by The Admiral who was by Jubilee de Jarnette out of a Winnebago Chief daughter – Morrill Queen. Winnebago Chief was by Mountain Chief by Morrill by The Jennison Colt, by The Randolph Horse by Bulrush. Another stallion Mr. Sellman used frequently was Major Gordon who traced to Octoroon and whose second dam was by Bulrush. Julian Morgan by Winnebago Chief is another of this very solid family, he in turn sired Raven Chief, who sired Sun Down Morgan who was foaled in California in 1933. Among the Morgan horses who are currently competitive on the trotting track Flyhawk is well represented by the most successful of these horses. The Flyhawk blood comes to these trotters mainly through Chief Red Hawk via Pinehaven Chief. This family is doing very nicely and is fairly heavily concentrated in Michigan. Chief Red Hawk, was of course, a full brother to Gallant King, whose blood is much sought after in the Working Western Families. Flyhawk was a great, great grandson of Hero of Manilla, himself a Morrill Queen son. Another source of the Bulrush blood available today is through the Red Correll horses, most recently dispersed at the Mills sale last fall.

The Sherman family or The Black Hawks are equally well represented on the trotting track today as well as in the Working Western Families. Flyhawk himself was out of the Sherman bred mare Florette and Chief Red Hawk of course is out of Neliza by Jubilee King. Jubilee de Jarnette, mentioned earlier was a Sherman bred horse as much as he was a Bulrush bred horse and so that blood is acquired automatically with the Sellman bred horses by The Admiral.

Mr. J. C. Brunk was the largest breeder of Sherman Morgans in the Mid-west and in addition to Flyhawk, he gave us Jubilee King and all of King’s sons that went on to be the bulk of the foundation of the Working Western Families. The Jubilee King son Juzan, made a name for himself in Arizona as well as doing the same back east. Much earlier in our history, the Black Hawk son; Ethan Allen stood at stud in Lawrence, Kansas. He lived there untill his death in 1876 and was buried at the entrance of the trotting park in Lawrence, later exhumed and stood in the Museum of Natural History in Lawrence. The presence of Ethan Allen in the mid-west surely laid the foundations of Sherman horses there. Ethan Allen’s grandson Denning Allen was shown successfully at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Ill in 1893. Denning Allen of course was the sire of General Gates, whose Sherman blood and influence on WW Families is immeasurable.

Another Sherman bred stallion whose influence can still be felt in both the trotting Morgans and the Working Western Families is Charles Reade. His blood comes to us mainly through the mare lines. He was a son of Daniel Lambert by Ethan Allen, out of an own daughter of Daniel Lambert. Charles Reade was used by J.C. Brunk and was the first, possibly the last horse to be given registration as a Morgan, a Saddlebred, and by virtue of his race record as a Standardbred.

The Woodbury family of race horses were known as the Golddusts. The roadster branch of his family comes down to us through Gifford Morgan and can be found in abundance. But the Golddusts are very scarce. Since the Golddusts were mainly bred in Kentucky, their blood did spread to the mid-west. Messenger Golddust went to Wisconsin then to Missouri. Bell’s Ben Franklin, by Messenger Golddust went to Iowa. Ingold and Pure Gold went to Indiana. Golden Forrest was kept in Wisconsin and sons of his were in Wisconsin and Illinois. Golden Forrest is a name that can be found on modern pedigrees. Another name in this branch of family that is sometimes found is Zilcaadi Golddust along with Mambrino Golddust. Eclipse Golddust was sold to C.X. Larabee of Deer Lodge, Montana, so there may be more of the family still in the west then is readily found in the east. They were fast horses , but not easy to live with horses and were mainly raced as geldings. One source of this blood was the stallion Jack Sprat, sire of Lizzieayr, dam of Liz Taylor. Jack Sprat was out of the mare Gold Floss by Golddust Abdallah. The stallion Powerful was also of this family as his dam was Gold Pilot out of Gold Fly. Powerful was a valuable breeding horse in any right as his sire was Chocolate; another stallion of influence on Working Western Families. Here then is a brief run down of some recent research into the families of Justin Morgan’s three famous sons. It is of interest to me to note the parallel use of sires of these families in the development of both what is now called the Working Western Families, and in the development of successful Morgan Trotting Horses. I hope it will be of interest to some of you readers and breeders as well.

Old Government Bloodlines -a Footnote

As a short footnote to the information contained in The Working Western Foundation article I would like to add, that though the WWF Foundations article describes the very early foundations, it should be noted that the horses we have come to call Working Western Family today all have – for the most part-bloodlines that go back to General Gates as mentioned. Through the General Gates sons, Bennington and Linsley comes his blood… Mansfield, by Bennington, Hermina by Mansfield, Ro Mac , Panfield, Canfield, Ulysses, all these names and many more have become known as Old Government and are the backbone of the current Working Western Family. In addition of course to the blood of Flyhawk and Jubilee King.

Ina M. Ish
Longstreet Morgans
Chapel Hill, NC