On the sire of *Mowarda, for non-Arabic speakers (also on *Abbeian 111)
There has been a lot of speculation about the sire of the desert-bred Davenport import *Mowarda, in particular whether he was the horse that was imported to the USA by one of Davenport’s companions and later registered as *Abbeian 111.
The Arabic language famously lacks the verb “to be”. Phrases like “the dog is big” and “the big dog” are harder to differentiate than in English. The presence or absence on the definite article “al-” in the ajective is the way they can be differentiated. This is how it works:
al-kalb al-ahmar, literally “the dog the red” means “the red dog”.
al-kalb ahmar, literally “the dog red”, means “the dog is red”.
Accordingly, the hujjah of *Mowarda would read as follows:
Wa-inna umma al-hisani al-madhkuri tushabba wa-abuha al-hayfi; wa abu al-hisani al-madhkuri al-mawjudi bi-yadi al-mushari ilayhi ubayyan sharrak
Note the bold “al-” for now. Literally:
And mother of the horse the referenced to be mated [feminine] and father of her the Hayfi. And father of the horse the referenced the present in the hand of the aforementioned Ubayyan Sharrak.
The ajective “referenced” modifies “horse” (*Mowarda, age and coat color described earlier in the hujjah) in the first sentence. It does not modify “mother”, or it would have been in the feminine. Also the dam was not referenced earlier in the hujjah. In the second sentence, the adjective “referenced” similarly modifies “the horse” (like “the red the dog”). It does not modify father who is being mentioned for the first time and is not mentioned earlier in the hujjah. The structure of the two sentences is the same. The phrase “the present in the hand of the aforementioned” (i.e. “Mister Davenport, mentioned by name earlier in the hujjah) follows “the referenced” and similarly modifies “the horse” (like “the red the dog”). The phrase “the present in the hand of the aforementioned” , which may seem redundant at first, was likely added for the sake of exclusive identification because “the referenced” was not enough to identify *Mowarda, since another male horse had been mentioned in the meantime (the Hayfi sire of the dam of *Mowarda). So, in good English:
And the dam of the referenced horse is to be mated, and her sire is the Hayfi. And the sire of the referenced horse present with the aforementioned is a Ubayyan Sharrak.
Had the phrase “present in the hand of the aforementioned” applied to the “sire of the horse”, rather than “the horse” it would have read like this in Arabic:
Wa-inna umma al-hisani al-madhkuri tushabba wa-abuha al-hayfi; wa abu al-hisani al-madhkuri al-mawjud[un] bi-yadi al-mushari ilayhi ubayyan sharrak
without the bold “al” of the translation above. It would have read instead, in good English:
And the dam of the referenced horse is to be mated, and her sire is the Hayfi. And the sire of the referenced horse IS present with the aforementioned is a Ubayyan Sharrak.
Bottom line: there is no textual evidence that the sire of *Mowarda was ever owned by Davenport (or one of his companions).
Thank you! This is very interesting – my inner (outer?) philologist is in transports of delight at the grammar lesson and the significance of the definite article in terms of the correct interpretation of the hujjah.
it is easy to see how us westerners botched up lines of descent over and over again.
Kind of like whups- over and over again until, I would imagine it has become a migraine inducing sore subject for folks from the middle east
best
Bruce Peek
I guess the next question is if Abbeian 111 definitely was NOT the sire of Mowarda, who was he and where did he come from?
http://ambararabians.com/articles/WhiteCityIII.shtml
Well, he is either Thompson’s Grey imported by Davenport’s friend, or a Hamidie import.
Personally, I would go for the Hamidie import and Dolbony’s account: An additional horse is also described: “Obeyran, the White Stallion. The Dam of this horse, Obeyah Sherrakieh, one of the rarest mares in that country, was owned by Mohemed Agga Swidan, of Hisseh, sired by the stallion unknown to me though I have heard that he was a pure Hamdani Simri, descending from Shammar, but I cannot swear to its positive breeding.” Dolbony’s letter then says “this is as much information as I have concerning these horses that you mention in your letter.”
There is contextual evidence on top of textual evidence, that the sire of *Mowarda was not imported by Davenport.
*Mowarda’s dam was a prized broodmare, which Davenport wanted to buy and could not (in spite of having acquired other prized mares). She was bred to an Ubayyan Sharrak desert-bred stallion to produce *Mowarda. Had Davenport imported that horse, he would have:
1) made a big deal about importing a stallion used by the Bedouin as a sire, especially on a prized mare. The same way he made a big deal about obtaining *Haleb. Note that all the males imported by Davenport from the Aleppo area, except for *Haleb, were colts and had not been used as sires by the Bedouins before.
2) noted that he imported mowarda’s sire or this stallion’s son or both
Also, the horse in the photos during Davenport’s trip (Thompson’s grey) looks too young to have sired *Mowarda (1904). It may well be that Thompson’s Grey was *Abbeian 111 but he was in all likelihood not *Mowarda’s sire.
Homer was dyslexic, and used Abeyan and Obeyran interchangeably. Dolbony was an unreliable narrator; he appears to have presented a story to go with each of the names he was asked about, even to the point of making Dawn and Pride two different imported mares, when those were two successive names for the same mare.
In the 1905 program for Homer Davenport’s Farm at the Lewis and Clark exposition “Abeyan” (the cover photo is clearly the horse we know as *Obeyran) is said to be “one of the two remaining stallions” from the Columbian Exposition; another horse in the listing is “Koubishau,” clearly a typo for *Koubishan. *Abbeian 111 on this reading can’t be a Hamidie horse.
The stories J. Dolbony provided may be unreliable, but they do feature real, well-known horse breeders known to have been alive at the time, from Saqr al-Misrib, to Muhammad Agha Suwaydan, to the Farah family of Baalbeck, etc.
Also, noting the need to be mindful of considering Davenport reliable on some issues (only two remaining horses from Chicago fair) and not reliable on others (Abeyan verus Obeyran)?
Because neither side of the discussion is suggesting that Abbeian 111 was other than an authentic bedouin bred desert arab horse, I’m just noticing that the other difference it would make for some is that Tripoli would become a “Davenport-Hamidie” horse, instead of just “Davenport.” I’m not sure that would be a relevant distinction for any present purpose. GBE seems to have argued it as part of her argument that “Davenport” was no longer a viable breeding program. And that seems a fairly silly hair-splitting contention at this point.
I have not seen slam dunk evidence that he is either. What comes closest to evidence of him being a Davenport import is Jeanne Craver’s comparison of photos of the young horse on Davenports trip with the older horse in the USA. That is in favor of him being Thompson’s grey.
What is closest to evidence of him being a Hamidie import is the similarity between the entry in the Tattersall’s sale catalogue of 1894 and the AHC Volume I entry nearly twenty years later.
Of course I like Hamidie horses, so I would like him to be one.
Actually, it doesn’t matter whether Dolbony was reliable or not. His comments could have referred to the actual Hamidie horse Abeyan, who did exist. The question is whether Homer Davenport owned that horse.
Dyslexia would, and repeatedly did, cause Homer to mix up Abeyan and Obeyran. I’m not seeing how it would cause him to confuse two with three.
Sorry, submitted too quickly.
The question really is whether Abeyan was later registered as *Abbeian 111, regardless of his chain of ownership. What the 1905 Davenport’s Farm listing does is fairly clearly state that Abeyan was not in Homer Davenport’s ownership at that time, and also had not been located in his efforts over several years to find the surviving Hamidie horses.
The horse Abbeian 111 starts siring foals that survive within Al Khamsa in 1910. If he Davenport does not own him in 1905. Who does is own in 1910?
What Michael is saying, I think, is that Davenport never owned the Hamidie horse Abeyan (the one Dolbony was writing about), whether in 1905 or any other time. He may have owned Thompson’s Grey, a Davenport import since his importation. From what Michael is saying, Thompson’s grey would have been registered as *Abbeian 111 in the AHC Vol 1, in 1913.
In that case, it still baffles me why a Davenport import would be registered using the information about a Hamidie horse from the Tattersalls sale catalog of 1894.
So this is a topic which I am sure many smart people have tried to look for answers in many places over the years. Are there any stones out there left unturned? Any places where information might be that people have not checked? Any clues which might be turned into avenues for further research on the issue?
I don’t know that Davenport owned Thompson’s Grey; I think Jack Thompson owned him until Thompson died in November 1908, and the horse went to Hingham where he was used in 1910, was photographed in 1911, and was again used in 1914 and ’15.
J H Thompson Jr had two horses placed in the Arabian Saddle Class at the Durland Show in May 1908: first was Ali Bey, and fourth was Beaming Star. Unfortunately we can’t find the show entries which would give coat colors, but we know who Beaming Star is and I suggest Ali Bey was the name Thompson gave his grey horse.
This has a candidate for *Abbeian in Jack Thompson’s possession in 1908; we know nothing of Abeyan after he passed through the Tattersall sale in 1894, except that Homer Davenport didn’t know where he was in 1905.
I am drawing here on the work of RJ Cadranell and Moira Walker as well as my own.
As to the mistaken documentation of the registration–Thompson was dead, Homer was dead, no first-hand knowledge was available and apparently the record became confused.
Michael, what do you think the chances are, based on the available circumsntancial evidence, that *Abbeian 111 (the sire of Jadaan and others) was the horse that went through the Tattersall sale? zero percent?
Could that horse have resurfaced after Homer’s death?
No one can prove the Hamidie horse absolutely could not have resurfaced, any more than they can prove any other negative (although Homer was living in 1910). But as you wrote above, the evidence connecting him to the sire of Jadaan and Sheria is the stud book wording.
Homer Davenport demonstrably did mix up the names Obeyran and Abeyan, and he liked the story of the Mare of the Cloak and took occasion to repeat it. Homer would exaggerate, but I don’t picture he would lie outright about not having more than two Hamidie horses–apart from anything else it doesn’t make a better story (if you’re going from three to two, why not go ahead and say This is the _only_ one?).
*Gomusa was registered with the documentation of *Reshan’s son Pasha, Rosa Rugosa was registered as bred by Crabbet Stud. There were mistaken registrations, this case would not be unique.
I’m seeing the Thompson connection as more substantial, including the photographic resemblance of the horse in the desert to the one at Hingham.
When did Homer die?
When did Thompson die?
Homer Davenport died shortly after the Titanic went down in 1912. Jack Thompson, as Michael says above, died in 1908. Davenport thought Thompson died of some “germ” he picked up in the desert. Oddly enough, Arthur Moore was the sickest on the trip, and he lived well into old age and is represented by a fascinating family. If you don’t mind me pushing our book, a lot of this is gone into in great detail (and with zillions of illustrations) in Davenport’s Quest, published in 2016.
I wonder if it makes sense that Thompson’s grey is also Ubayyan by strain?
Thompson’s Grey’s hujjah does not survive. The count of horses going through customs shows that each horse had one, but not all survived.
Jeanne- What is the evidence that indicates that Thompson’s Grey had a hujjah at some point?
The count of horses going through customs shows that each horse had a hujjah. They are numbered by the government customs process.
I remembered I have an undated Hingham Stock Farm catalogue. It’s largely a reprint of the Davenport Desert Arabian Stud catalogue (the imported stallions are still given as “colt” for example) with a couple of new pictures and a few added foals.
I was disappointed to find that *Abbeian is not listed among the stallions, but his 1911 daughters Sheria and Abbess are included, sired by “Abbeian an Abbeyan Sherrak.”
It seems the customs document that somehow shows that each horse had a hujjah is pretty important. Can someone post a copy on this blog?
Do we know who submitted the registration documents for the horse known as “Abbeian 111?”
And where did all the hujjah’s go? Do we have any idea who had them last?
We found out, several years too late, that the import records were destroyed at the port of entry, decades after the importation. I do not know of a single customs document that covers the entire group. The surviving hujaj are numbered and stamped. They are part of the collections at the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, KY.
Would there be records in the Italian port Davenport’s ship stopped at on the way to America?
The 1912 stud book shows *Abbeian owned by Hingham Stock Farm, in numerical sequence toward the end of the 1911 foals bred by Davenport Desert Arabian Stud; in 1918 the next stud book has the same foals bred by Hingham Stock Farm.
One other point: *Abbeian is 111, his daughters Sheria and Abbess are on either side of him at 110 and 112. 113 is the Hamidie horse *Koubishan. Registration 113 gives an import date of 1893, while 111 gives no import date.
Moira, that would be Naples, and I have no idea. The horses were offloaded there and transferred to a different vessel for the Atlantic crossing, but whether the authorities made and kept paperwork for them… don’t know.
Someone should check records from the port of Naples for 1906 (Aug or Sept?). The horses were taken ashore and stabled in Naples for a brief time.
The party was in Naples on 9/11/1906, arriving on the Singapore, and departing 9/16 on the Italia. Jack Thompson traveled with the horses and Arthur and Home took the faster Canopic, departing on 9/19. Arthur Moore met his future wife on the Canopic, and Homer met the love of his life on that voyage as well.
Yes, I went back and looked at the new (2017) edition of _Homer Davenport’s Quest of the Arabian Horse_ and noticed where Davenport wrote of the Naples phase of the trip: “The horses had been lowered in their boxes from the steamer to a barge, but when the Customs Dock was reached it was necessary to take the animals out of their boxes and lead them on the dock.” (p. 238).
So clearly the horses did go through Customs, and were individually inspected.
It looks like the registrations from Letan 86 through Abbess 112 were all processed on June 1, 1912. This block of registrations is the Davenport Desert Arabian Stud foal crops of 1909, 1910, and 1911, along with the imported stallion *Abbeian 111, the sire of two foals in the 1911 crop. Years ago, I studied and made notes from the original Arabian Horse Club documentation for each horse, then held by the Arabian Horse Trust. Some, but not all, of the records state the date the horse was registered. Numbers 91, 100, and 112 all state: Registered June 1, 1912.
If Abbeian 111 was a Davenport import, what specific documentation exists that proves he had a hujjah at some point? The answers above were not so clear to me.
If all the horses did have hujjah, and we only now have some of the hujjah, then do we have any ideas on where the other hujjah that we do not have went? Who had them last?
If the dates above from RJ on actual registration are correct, then Abbeian 111 was registered after Homer was dead. Is this correct? Do we have any idea who submitted the registration documents?
Jeanne- Are you referring to the numbers in the left hand corner of this document?
https://www.arabianarchives.org/portals/documents/item/hujjah-of-abeyah
How do we know who wrote these numbers?
Davenport was quoted in the New York Times of Nov. 16, 1906 saying he had “a complete signed pedigree of all the horses bought.” In the Nov. 17 New York Times, he was quoted “twenty-six out of the twenty-seven horses I got are ‘chubby.'” The surviving hujjas are numbered sequentially, but there are some gaps in the sequence, indicating the existence of a few additional documents now lost. I believe this sequence proves there once existed some document for all 24 horses belonging to Bradley and Davenport. The other three of the total 27 horses in the importation belonged to Arthur Moore and Jack Thompson. There is a hujja for Arthur Moore’s Grey. I don’t think we can use the numerical sequence to prove the existence of hujjas for Thompson’s Grey and Moore’s Bay.
Peter Bradley had the originals of most of the hujjas, and those are now at the International Museum of the Horse. Bradley and Davenport prepared an album of facsimile versions of the hujjas in 1908. There are facsimile versions of the hujjas for *Wadduda and *Haleb, but their originals are now lost. My guess is that Davenport and Bradley each had a facsimile album showing all surviving hujjas and then divided the originals between them, with Davenport taking *Haleb’s and *Wadduda’s (both of these horses were gifts to him). I once thought that maybe the original of *Haleb’s hujja was sent to the Smithsonian with his skeleton, but I wrote to the Smithsonian and obtained a copy of their *Haleb file and the hujja was not part of it.
Is it important that Thompson’s Grey had a hujja? So far as I know, the only Blunt desert import with a hujja was Meshura, and nobody seems to demand hujjas for Rodania, Azrek, Queen of Sheba, Dajania, Hadban, Kars, etc.
Yes, *Abbeian 111 was registered after Homer Davenport was dead. The management of the Davenport Desert Arabian Stud submitted the registration application, but within a few years it changed its name to Hingham Stock Farm.
The numbers on the *Abeyah hujja are on the back side of it. We don’t know who wrote 19, 20 on the back of it, but this seems to number *Abeyah as 19 and her filly *Haffia as 20. Also on the back of this document is written “Reg. 641, 642” and these numbers were added by the Jockey Club.
As another example, the *Urfah hujja has numbers 21, 22, 23, and “Reg. 643, 644, 645” for *Urfah and her sons *Hamrah and *Euphrates.
There’s a tremendous amount of information to process, in dealing with this importation and its sequelae, but I’ve just had a thought that, to me, cuts to the heart of it.
Why would a high-ranking bedouin sheykh present Homer Davenport with the incomparable treasure of a mare like *Wadduda, and then present his traveling companion with a stallion less than worthy of accompanying her?
Claims have been made in the past by respected and well meaning people that Thompson’s Grey was the sire of Mowarda. I believed them. And based on this information, leased two mares with Abbeian 111 in their pedigree, and now own offspring of this horse.
These well respected and well meaning people were wrong.
So, I am trying to determine the truth, as far as it can be known.
Blunt desert imports do not have hujjah. However, we do have the vast personal records of the Blunts to give information as to the origin of these horses. People can of course make their own personal choice as to what to believe.
I’m still trying to get to the bottom of several threads of inquiry here:
From Jeanne-“Thompson’s Grey’s hujjah does not survive. The count of horses going through customs shows that each horse had one, but not all survived.” What documentation exists that indicates each horse had a hujjah, other than the 1906 NYT article?
From Michael- Is the only document that shows the strain and substrain of what is presumed to be Abbeian 111 the undated Hingham Stock Farm catalog? Is this document in digital form anywhere?
From RJ- Do we know who within the management of the farm likely submitted the documents in 1912 for publication in 1913? Also, do we know who submitted the documents later on that added the importation information on Abbeian 111 in Volume 3?
The photo resemblance: I remember looking at these photos and it was tough for me to see the similarities in fuzzy photos of two grey horses taken at a distance. Can someone post these online somewhere? I’d love to look at them again.
If copies of the hujjah were known to be with both Davenport and Bradley as late as 1908, what happened to them afterwards? Do we know what hands the hujjah that we do have went through to get from Davenport/Bradley to the Cravers? Where have people looked for the hujjah?
Michael-
“Why would a high-ranking bedouin sheykh present Homer Davenport with the incomparable treasure of a mare like *Wadduda, and then present his traveling companion with a stallion less than worthy of accompanying her?”
Didn’t Hafez gave Thompson his horse? He was a Turcoman married to a daughter of an Anazeh sheykh. Right? I don’t remember Thompson’s grey being given by a high ranking Bedouin sheykh. Please correct me if I am wrong.
RJ-
“In the Nov. 17 New York Times, he was quoted “twenty-six out of the twenty-seven horses I got are ‘chubby.’” ”
Do we have any ideas who the non “chubby” horse is in Davenport’s view?
RJ-
“The surviving hujjas are numbered sequentially, but there are some gaps in the sequence, indicating the existence of a few additional documents now lost. I believe this sequence proves there once existed some document for all 24 horses belonging to Bradley and Davenport.”
Can you explain more on the gaps described above and what the additional documents now lost could be? And how does the sequence proves “there once existed some document for all 24 horses belonging to Bradley and Davenport?”
Micheal-
There was another issue I thought of with regard to this point you made:
“Why would a high-ranking bedouin sheykh present Homer Davenport with the incomparable treasure of a mare like *Wadduda, and then present his traveling companion with a stallion less than worthy of accompanying her?”
I am not familiar with the gift giving protocol in Syria at this period of time. Edouard could give more insight on this.
However, I do know that other “Eastern” cultures definitely give different gifts to people depending on where they are in the hierarchy of a specific group. If Davenport was seen as the leader of the group and if Thompson was seen as lower than he was, Davenport’s “gift” may have been higher than Thompson’s.
Lyman, clearly the gift of Hashem Bey’s favorite war mare *Wadduda was a gift of higher value than the young grey stallion given to Jack Thompson. But that doesn’t make Thompson’s horse worthless, either.
The Arabian Horse Club stud books also give a strain and sub-strain for *Abbeian 111, in volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4. Strain information for that horse is not just in the Hingham Stock Farm catalog.
No, we don’t know who at Hingham Stock Farm handled the registration paperwork in 1912. And no, we don’t know who added the information in stud book volume 3 (1927) that *Abbeian was imported by Davenport.
The Cravers have never had possession of the original hujjahs. The originals were with the Bradley family, and then Charles Rheault, one of the trustees of the Bradley Trusts, presented them to Arabian horse breeder Harry O. Bell of Montana. I saw and photographed them at Mrs. Bell’s house in Missoula in about 1989. I would have to look up exactly when I was there. Later, Mrs. Bell presented them to the Arabian Horse Trust in Denver, Colorado, and from there they went to the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, KY.
We don’t know what happened to Homer Davenport’s papers. Maybe his wife Daisy had some of them. Maybe Zadah Reakirt had some. Maybe some were destroyed in the fire at the Holmdel, New Jersey farm where Davenport had his horses when he died.
No, we don’t know which imported horse Davenport had in mind when he said there was one that wasn’t “chubby.” I have always wondered which one. Maybe it was *Simri, who was gelded and never registered.
There are numbers on the hujjahs that Davenport sent to the Jockey Club going from number 1 (*Houran) through number 25 (*El Bulad). We know from Davenport’s statements that one of the documents numbered in this series was a GSB certificate, maybe for *Bushra. These documents were all sent back to Aleppo for verification by the State Department in 1907, and Akmet Haffez said document numbers 7, 8, 10, and 12 were unknown to him but all others were genuine. Number 8 belonged to *Muson, acquired on the Damascus phase of the trip, and number 10 belonged to *Simri, also acquired on the Damascus phase, and Haffez would not have known those two horses. We don’t have document 7 or document 12 anymore, but one of those would have been for *Masoud (the third horse acquired on the Damascus phase and therefore unknown to Haffez) and the other was the GSB certificate. We also don’t know which horses belonged to document numbers 2, 3, 17, and 18. We have copies of the fronts of the *Haleb and *Wadduda hujjahs, but not the backs, so we can’t read the numbers. Two of numbers 2, 3, 17, and 18 would have belonged to *Haleb and *Wadduda. The only others of Davenport and Bradley’s 1906 imported horses unaccounted for are *Deyr and *Gomusa. Therefore documents 2, 3, 17, and 18 would have been for *Haleb, *Wadduda, *Gomusa, and *Deyr, but we don’t know which number went to which horse. Clearly there was some piece of paper that was assigned each of those numbers. All of this is discussed in detail in the appendices to the new edition of Homer Davenport’s Quest of the Arabian Horse.
RJ-
“Lyman, clearly the gift of Hashem Bey’s favorite war mare *Wadduda was a gift of higher value than the young grey stallion given to Jack Thompson. But that doesn’t make Thompson’s horse worthless, either.”
Of course it does not make him worthless. But I don’t think he would have been at the same level as a gift to Davenport. Perhaps I’m wrong in thinking this.
“The Arabian Horse Club stud books also give a strain and sub-strain for *Abbeian 111, in volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4.”
Does anyone have a digital version of the relevant pages of these stud books?
“No, we don’t know who at Hingham Stock Farm handled the registration paperwork in 1912. And no, we don’t know who added the information in stud book volume 3 (1927) that *Abbeian was imported by Davenport. ”
Do we know any of the names of the senior management of the stud farm in 1912 and perhaps how long they worked there?
Someone must have noticed the discrepancy on the importation information for this horse by 1926 in time for the new stud book in 1927. It might have been someone who cared about this issue, perhaps because they owned a descendant of Abbeian 111. Who owned descendants of Abbeian 111 prior to 1926?
“The originals were with the Bradley family, and then Charles Rheault, one of the trustees of the Bradley Trusts, presented them to Arabian horse breeder Harry O. Bell of Montana. I saw and photographed them at Mrs. Bell’s house in Missoula in about 1989.”
Were there any other trustees of the Bradley Trusts?
“We don’t know what happened to Homer Davenport’s papers. Maybe his wife Daisy had some of them. Maybe Zadah Reakirt had some. Maybe some were destroyed in the fire at the Holmdel, New Jersey farm where Davenport had his horses when he died. ”
Do we know the trustees of Daisy Davenport’s estate?
Who was Zadah Reakirt?
When was the fire at Holmdel?
“These documents were all sent back to Aleppo for verification by the State Department in 1907, and Akmet Haffez said document numbers 7, 8, 10, and 12 were unknown to him but all others were genuine.”
Where does this piece of information come from?
I’m sure someone has checked the State Department records from Aleppo in the National Archives dating to 1907 but I thought I would ask again here.
“But I don’t think he would have been at the same level as a gift to Davenport.”
That’s what I just said. Clearly the gift of a young grey stallion was less valuable than the gift of Hajim Bey Ibn Mhayd’s favorite ware mare.
The hujjah of Moore’s Grey survives. He was a horse given to Arthur Moore, another companion of Davenport. I don’t see anything in his hujjah that makes it inferior to *Waddudah’s hujjah, or to another Davenport import. His hujjah has the seals of three sheykhs, Hakim ibn Mhayd of the Fadaan Anazah (that’s a big deal) and Ali and Muhammad al-Rashid of the Bu Khamis. It mentions that he is to be mated “yshabbi”, that his dam was a Ma’naqiyah Hudrujiyah and his sire an Abbeyan Sharrak of the Dasim marbat.
Based on RJ’s analysis and the numbers on the available hujjah, the sequence of the hujaj sent back to Aleppo for verification is the following:
1 Houran
2 one of Haleb, Wadduda, Gomussa, or Deyr
3 one of Haleb, Wadduda, Gomussa, or Deyr
4 Mowarda
5 Farha
6 Werdi
7 one of Masoud or GSB horse
8 Muson
9 Jedah
10 Simri
11 Kusof
12 one of GSB horse or Masoud
13, 14 Reshan and Antar
15, 16, Hadba and Enzahi
17 one of Haleb, Wadduda, Gomussa or Deyr
18 one of Haleb, Wadduda, Gomussa or Deyr
19, 20 Abeyah and Haffiah
21, 22, 23, Urfah, Hamrah, Euphrates
24 Azra
25 El Bulad
The hujaj of Moore’s Bay and Thompson’s Grey are not known to have survived. Moore’s Grey’s survives. These would be the 25th, 26th and 27th horses, accounting for of the GSB horse as one of the 24 others.
“These documents were all sent back to Aleppo for verification by the State Department in 1907, and Akmet Haffez said document numbers 7, 8, 10, and 12 were unknown to him but all others were genuine.”
Where does this piece of information come from?
It comes from correspondence, it comes from articles in _The Rider and Driver_. All the statements about this in the appendices to the new edition of _Homer Davenport’s Quest of the Arabian Horse_ are cited to the original source material. I think it’s more efficient to refer you to the book than to retype the appendices here.
RJ- I read the new edition of the Annotated Quest very carefully several times. I venture to guess that there are probably less than 10 people globally who did not co author the book that read it as carefully as I did.
I found I have more questions than answers after reading it. Hence, all the questions above.
According to AHA Datasource, the breeders of horses that were descendants of Abbeian 111 prior to 1926 when the importation information was updated were:
HINGHAM STOCK FARM
WK KELLOGG INSTIUTE
HOWARD STOUT NIELSON
MRS. JOHN G. WINANT
Datasource does not list owners of these early horses, only breeders.
Do we think that any of these people actually cared enough about this topic to ask the Registry to update the importation information prior to 1926?
I’m going to hire a freelancer in Naples to see if any customs records can be dug up there.
Is there anymore information that would be helpful besides Jeanne’s previous comment below:
“The party was in Naples on 9/11/1906, arriving on the Singapore, and departing 9/16 on the Italia. Jack Thompson traveled with the horses and Arthur and Home took the faster Canopic, departing on 9/19. Arthur Moore met his future wife on the Canopic, and Homer met the love of his life on that voyage as well.”
What name would the party been under? And what was the total number of men and animals traveling together?
What do we know about Jack Thompson? His wife’s name? Kids? Residences? Etc?
Maybe we can start to dig in social media if he has any descendants that remembers their great grandpa going to the middle east.
Lyman:
There were 27 horses and several Arabic donkeys on the trip. I have forgotten the number of men who accompanied them besides Thompson and Said Abdallah, but it was a handful.
Jack Thompson died very young, in 1908, and had not married, so no social media is going to be easily helpful, I’m afraid. RJ Cadranell and Michael Bowling have done a lot of work in looking up wills and censuses and directories and newspapers and magazines, but what they have is summarized in Davenport’s Quest.
Jeanne-
Don’t get me wrong, I love the book, but the basic problem with books is that few people read books in 2019. That being said, I’m sure there is more relevant information out there that could be a piece to the Abbeian 111 puzzle, I’m just not sure where.
My idea is to set a number of “honey traps” for information on this general topic.
We could separate the information into different buckets, so that people searching for information on their ancestors would hit a particular page on this blog seeking information that may be in someone’s attic or basement. The ancestor comments on the blog post in 5-10 years from now and bam, we have another lead to follow up on.
If we think Abbeian 111 was a Davenport import, where do we think his hujjah is if it exists? What are the different possibilities? I’m sure you, Charles, RJ and Michael among many others have thought about this topic more than you care to remember and would just rather say, “read the book.” However, what I am looking for is not in the book. I want to know where people have looked for information.
We could couple the “honey traps” with searches on social media and various ancestry sites for various people that might be potential avenues of inquiry.
The endstate of the exercise
(and it may take another 20 years) is reliable information on the strain, sub-strain and Bedouin breeder of Abbeian 111. We don’t have any of this right now.
Jack Thompson was born Dec. 3, 1873 in Manhattan. He died Nov. 14, 1908, in New Jersey, age 34. He had no wife or kids. Both of his parents survived him. The 1900 census states that Jack’s mother had actually had two children, but only one of them was still living in 1900. So Jack died in 1908 with no wife, kids, brothers, or sisters.
Just to follow up on this threat. I have sent two freelancers into the Naples customs house and they both were unable to access the customs records from 1906. One said the documents existed but was unable to access them. Another one said that no records existed from before WWII.
Thank you for the update! A pity that the customs records can’t be accessed.
I have family in Italy (Romans), so it might be possible to find a connection in Naples who could try this again.
Lyman,
Did the one that said the documents exist expound on why they weren’t able to access them? Too fragile? Covid-related restrictions? Private collection?
I’ve been wondering about this re: the customs documents that surely must exist for the mass importation and exportation of Arabians to/from Egypt, as well. The records have to be SOMEWHERE.
Southern Italian bureaucrats are complicated. At this point I don’t know if they are there or not. I did not really have very committed people to play the game of 20 questions with the bureaucrats to see where they might be.
I have contacted my (Italian) stepmother to see if she has any questions.
*suggestions
Jenny, I hope she can help!