The ownership of Messenger, after he was transferred from Philadelphia to New York, like his earlier history, seems to be very much muddled. Henry Astor, a New York butcher, certainly bought him in the fall of 1793, and located him at Philip Platt’s, four miles from Jamaica, on Long Island. In the spring of 1796 Mr. Cornelius W. Van Ranst bought one-third interest in him and removed him to Pine Plains in Dutchess County, New York, and, without specifying the time, he says he afterward purchased the remaining two-thirds, for which he paid two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. There appears to have been some mistake about this, for in 1802 we find Henry Astor, of New York, conveying one-third interest in the horse to Benjamin B. Cooper, of Camden, New Jersey. Some other parties also claim to have owned an interest in the horse, and I heard that there was a lawsuit about him between Astor and Van Ranst. The latter claims to have owned an interest in him till the time of his death, in 1808. It is not known how much Mr. Astor paid for him when he bought him, nor have I any data from which to determine the probable market value of the horse except that Mr. Van Ranst says he paid two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars for two-thirds of him. If we accept this as a basis, he must have been valued at about four thousand one hundred and twenty-five dollars. It is true, beyond doubt, that for several years he brought to his owners a net annual rental of one thousand dollars. This would indicate a very large patronage at very high prices for those times. For the twenty years of his stud services in this country, we find him located as follows: 1788, at Alexander Clay’s, Market Street, Philadelphia, at $15 the season and $1 to the groom, privilege of returning. 1789, at Thomas Clayton’s, Lombard Street, Philadelphia, at $10 the season and $1 to the groom. 1790, at Noah Hunt’s, in the Jersies, near Pennington, at $8. 1791, at “Mount Benger,” two miles from Bristol, Bucks Co., Pa., at $16. 1792, at the same place and the same price. 1793, at the same place and the same price. 1794, at Philip Platt’s, fifteen miles from New York and four from Jamaica, Long Island, at $25 the season. 1795, at the same place and the same price, when, as Mr. Van Ranst expressed it, “he took with our horsemen.” 1796, at Pine Plains, Dutchess County, N. Y., where he covered 106 mares at $30 the season. 1797, I have no advertisement for this year, but it is probable he was at the same place at the same price. 1798, at Pine Plains, as before, and the terms $30 for the season and $40 to insure. 1799, I have no definite trace of him this year, but there are some indications he was in West Jersey. 1800, for the spring season he is not located, but he made a fall season at John Stevens’ in Maidenhead, Hunterdon Co., N. J. 1801, at Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y., and I have seen the book account of expenses, etc., while he was there.