Mr. Joshua B. Bond's celebrate running Horse
FIRST CONSUL,
Will
stand this season, at the subscriber's farm In Prince George's county,
Maryland, about seven miles from Queen Anne, ten from Bladensburgh, the same distance
from Upper Marlborough, and about sixteen miles from the city of Washington; at
Twenty-Five dollars will be received
in full if sent with the MARES; if the money is not sent with the mares it is
requested that notes of hand will be sent at that time, given for Twenty-Six
dollars, payable at the expiration of the season, which will commence
immediately and end the 1st of August. Good
pasture will be firnished gratis, as soon as the grass is good, and in the mean
time, hay and corn furnished at the common price, for the mares according to
orders. The utmost care will be taken of
the mares, but I wil n ot be answerable for accidents or escapes. Consul is of the figure, beautiful bright
bay, with a small blaze in his face, and his hind ancles [sic] white; full 15
and 12 hands high. It is expected that
the stock from Consul and well bred mares, will not be surpassed by the stock
from any horse (scarcely) in America, for the turf, carriage, or saddle; or
even from Consul abd good looking mares, which have none of the running blood;
their colts cannot be other than elegant in a carriage or under the saddle.
Such
mares as have little, or any of what is supposed to be running blood in them,
may be put to Consul at half price, the money sent with the mares.
It[ ] should
be preferred by gentlemen living beyond Bladensburgh and Upper Marlborough, who
wish to breed from Consul, by giving notice to the subscriber, he can be sent
one day in each week to each place, from the first day of April, while there
will beany mares to send to him from either of those directions; say
Bladenburgh on Tuesday, and Upper Marlborough on Saturday.
ISAAC DUCKETT.[1]
March
12, 1808
 |
| Pleasant Prospect, 12806 Woodmore Road, Mitchellville, Prince George's County, MD HABS |
HE was foaled in
Philadelphia county, June 1793, got by the noted running horse Flag of Truce, his
dam by the imported horse Slender, his granddam from the imported mare Dianna,
Dianna was got by Old eclipse, Slender was got by King Herod, who produced more
runners than any other horse in England, as may be seen by the Racing Calender
[sic], therefore it may in truth be said on the dam side of First Consul, the
two great grand sires were the best horses England ever produced. Flag of Truce was bred by colonel Good in
Virginia and was esteemed the best turf horse in his day and was the sire to
colonel Taylor's famous running horse Leviathen [sic]. First Consul has won either 20 or 22 purses
from 100[L?} and 100g. and never started against a horse he did not outrun
until the fall he was eight years old -
the spring following he won three purses and distnaced the field the
first day at New Market on Long Island.
JOSHUA B. BOND,
Philadelphia.[3]
march 13
[indecipherable]
[1] Historic
American Buildings Survey. n.d. Belos H. Smith, District Officer, 170? Eye
St.tN.W.,Washington,D.C. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/md/md0500/md0559/data/md0559data.pdf
[accessed April 19, 2013]
" Pleasant Prospect was
built by Dr. Isaac Duckett ca. 1798 on property he acquired from the Thomas
Sprigg family following his marriage to Sprigg's granddaughter, Margaret Bowie.
The property then consisted of 500 acres of "Sprigg1s Request"
patented by Thomas Sprigg in 1698. The Federal Direct Tax of 1798 describes the
Duckett home as "a new Two story Brick dwelling, very elegantly furnished..."
Dr. Duckett added various new parcels to the property, eventually repatenting
what was then 825 acres as "Pleasant Prospect" in 1809. On the 31st
of December 1813 the only daughter of Isaac and Margaret Duckett, Eliza,
married John Contee, eldest son of Richard Alexander Contee and his wife,
Elizabeth Saunders. John was only nineteen years old, and Eliza, seventeen.
They presumably lived at Pleasant Prospect although it legally remained the
property of Dr. Duckett until his death in 1823. John and Eliza had four children:
Mary Margaret, John Jr. , Eliza Jr. and
Margaret. Eliza, however,
died on the 12th of November 1821 while her children were only one to seven
years of age. When her father, Isaac Duckett, died a few years later he left
his entire estate to John Contee for the sake of his grandchildren."
[2] Charles
E. Trevathan. 1905. The American Thoroughbred. The Macmillian Company. p.p.121-122.
"... in 1798, the bay
horse First Consul, who was foaled in Philadelphia County. First Consul was
sired by Flag of Truce, a Virginia horse, out of a mare by imported Slender.
First Consul might be called the first race-horse of quality ever produced in
Pennsylvania. From three to seven years old he won twenty-one purses, averaging
100 guineas each, in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and
Washington City, and was never beaten until the fall he was eight years old. He
then met his Waterloo in one of the famous old races, where, in a match of
four-mile heats near Baltimore, the celebrated Oscar gave him defeat. This was
a remarkably fast race and characterized by the bottom of the horses. First
Consul was owned by Joshua B. Bond, Esq., of Philadelphia, who was a prominent
gentleman in his own city and quite well known as a high-class sportsman. Mr.
Bond had offered to run First Consul against any horse in America, which
challenge had been accepted by Major William Ball, of Virginia, on behalf of
his fine horse, Ball's Florizel, for $10,000 a side. But in the interim First
Consul had run the match with Oscar. The succeeding week Oscar and First Consul
started in a famous race at Washington City, in four-mile heats, in which they
met Floretta and Top Gallant. The second heat of this race was run with
Floretta first, First Consul second, and Oscar third, in 7.52. So great a noise
was made at the time over the remarkable record that the Washington track was
measured to ascertain if it were not short of a mile. It was found to be seven
feet over."
[3] National
Intelligencer. & Washington Advertiser.; Date: 04-04-1808.
Transcribed by John Peter Thompson, April 19th, 2013.
who can think that history cannot be exciting. Great story.
ReplyDeletedaniel