Merle D. Evans first started breeding Morgans without using a prefix. Later he used the prefix Devan. His foundation Morgans were six from the Government Farm in Vermont and he later added the mostly Western Morgan, Hawk Jim. In the later years, his herd was tightly close bred, going back over and over to his foundation horses.
The photos below were taken by Sumner Kean on his 1951 trip.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Star hawk 9100
(Hawk Jim x Gorgeous) foaled 1944, photo taken 1951This horse has a little different look from the ones posted below. He was retained by Evans and sired many for the Devan prefix. His sire had different lines from Evan's other horses. Hawk Jim was bred in Kansas, by Elmer Brown and his sire was Linsley. Linsley was by General Gates, while all Evan's other foundation Morgans got General Gates on the sire line thru his son Bennington. Linsley's dam was a western mare who ended up in Vermont and was by Headlight Morgan. Hawk Jim's dam was also bred by Elmer Brown and was of mostly the Old Midwest Family, being by Sparhawk and out of a Dude Hudson daughter.
In my opinion, Hawk Jim brought more elegance and correctness to Evan's program.
Captor 7789
(Mansfield x Narissa) foaled 1932, photo taken 1951Over the years, I saw many Devan Morgans & Morgans who had at least one Devan parent. Many were very typey and lovely Morgans. Some were not. And some had very heavy necks. Captor was Merle D. Evans foundation stallion and most of the Devan horses had him at least once in the pedigree.
Devan Mares
Over the many years that Merle Evans bred Morgans, he bred 100's of them. To have that many foals, one needs a lot of mare. He had them.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Dorthea Bar 06310 & Ellen Bar 07036
Dorthea Bar (Barberry x Dorothy DH)Ellen Bar (Barberry x Elberty Linsley)
colt out of Ellen Bar
Chilocco Indian School, OK
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
more from Sumner Kean
More from his California ranch visits along with photos from his stopover at Merle Evan's Ohio farm.
Roland Hill ranch
Roland Hill had ranches for his cattle in California and Nevada but his Morgans were at the central California ranch near Rocklin. Here are two scenes.
Roberts Ranch
Roberts had his ranch in extreme Southern California, near the Mexican border. The horses ran the hills, as shown in the right hand photo. His mares were shipped to the nearby Imperial Valley to graze on irrigated alfalfa fields, as shown in the left hand photo. He bred many good Western Working Family Morgans at his High Pass ranch.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Cavendish 10200 w/Eve Oakley
(Jubilee's Courage x Paragraph--Jubilee King)foaled 1949, bred by Mrs. Frances Bryant, VT
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Sumner Kean & his Photos
All of yesterday's & today's photos were taken in 1951 by Sumner Kean, then editor of The Morgan Horse Magazine, on a trip he took thru the midwest & west to see Morgans.
Ken Carmen 7815
(Jubilee King x Heroda)
foaled 1932
Ira Mosher of Utah, up. The Mosher Bros. bred some good working Morgans. They ran a cattle ranch and needed stout working horses.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Plains King 7684
(Romanesque x Ella Linsley)Bred by Heibert Bros. Kansas, foaled 1936.
His sire was bred by Richard Sellman, sold to Elmer Brown of Kansas and mostly sired for Brown. His dam was bred by Brown.
He never gained a lot of respect in the upper Midwest as many thought he was "coarse". Like his sire, he was a big, stout Morgan.
Plains King daughters
Just Buttons x-07190Plains Beauty x-06841
Flyaway Queen x-06921
All sired by Plains King 7684
All out of Black Beauty [unreg] by Monterey
Friday, August 14, 2009
Upwey Ben Prince x-9319
(Upwey King Benn x Upwey Princess [unreg]-- by Upwey Prince Tarik & out of UPwey Bess [pedigree untraced])
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Jenney Lake 06961 & Jubilee Joy 05767
Jenney Lake-- (Senator Graham x Monty)Jubilee Joy-- (Flyhawk x Sentola)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Last Day of Registry Volume 6
This is the last of the photos from Registry Volume 6. Tomorrow will start photos from August 1951 TMH
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Torchy 05622
sire--Mansfielddam--Daisy of Willowmoor x-05826 by Troubadour of Willowmoor and out of Queen by an Arab, 2nd dam by Denning Allen 74
Compare to dam of Upwey Casssandra below.
Upwey Cassandra x-05153
Registered as Cassandra x-051533 in Reg. Vol. 5.Sire--Mansfield
Dam--Daisy (unreg) by Troubadour of Willowmoor, out of mare by an Arab, 2nd dam by Denning Allen 74
