2007 UKC World Champion

Bellar's Janice Joplin

 TREEING WALKER

2009 ACHA World Champion Coonhound Owned by John J. Monroe

1852

In November, 1852, on the 20th day, Adam Maupin died. The date is recorded on a sandstone marker along with date of birth and the fact that he was the son of T. J. and Jane Maupin. He was 12 days past six years old.

Except for the incident that Jeff Maupin's older brother, Wash, on his way home that day from Harris' blacksmith shop, stopped by the house, the date on the stone marker would long ago have been forgotten, for pioneer Kentucky was long accustomed to bornings and buryings.

Madison county had not yet recovered from the shock of other events which foreshadowed the great changes soon to come. Henry Clay had died in the June before, closely followed by Daniel Webster, while members of the greedy capitalistic system had financed a railroad, and construction was already under way out of Louisville toward the State of Tennessee. In March a book came off the press which lit the fuse of the bomb that blew the states apart for four long years. It was a best seller called "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

The story in the book was about General Kennedy's Negro man. Tom, whose cabin stood across the branch, in a hackberry thicket, from the farm where Bob Walker died. By our time the old Kennedy mansion was in ruins, standing in the center of a cornfield, stripped of its colonial columns and shutters as bleak as a skull in the wintertime. General Kennedy had married the widow of William Woods Kavanaugh, who had died six years before when trying to swim his horse across the Tennessee river. The general brought her and the children back to Kentucky from Franklin county, Tenn. Among the children was a daughter, Jane Miller, aged eleven. She rates this record because she later married John Williams Walker and mothered four sons, Stephen, Edwin, Archibald K. and John Wade.

The reason for here recording the date of the death of little Adam Maupin is that when his uncle stopped at the house on the Crooksville pike that day he was carrying on the pommel of his saddle a rat-tailed, tight-haired black and tan deer hound that he carried on home to Hunter's Rest . . . and called by the name of Tennessee Lead.

1855

 Adam Maupin's' uncle was George Washington Maupin ,who had obtained Tennessee

Lead from Tom Harris, a stock drover . Tom Harris had caught  The black and tan

hound out of a deer chase near the Kentucky and Tennessee line and carried him

home.

     In the early 1850's Red Fox began to appear in Kentucky. Prior to 1855, only
 
Gray Fox inhabited Madison County, but that year, A Red Fox found his way into the

area from Estill County. All of the local hunters Gray Fox hounds and Deer hounds

were baffled by this new wide running fox. All But one, George W. Maupin's'

Tennessee Lead. Lead jumped the Red Fox and ran it all day , with snow covering the

ground ,until he ran it into its' den at Round Mountain in Estill County. This was the

first Kentucky hound to jump and run to ground a Red Fox. Lead was no better Gray

Fox or Deer hound than those owned by other local hunters .The Trait that made him

famous was the Red Fox know-how he brought with him from Tennessee . From that

day, all the local hunters wanted a litter of pups sired by Tennessee Lead. 

The first hound bred to Tennessee Lead was a female called Red May, jointly owned

by Thomas Howard Maupin (brother of George Washington Maupin), Speedwell Road

and Alfred Johnson. This mating took place on November 20, 1852 the same day

that George Washington Maupin obtained Lead from Thomas Harris. This mating

produced the hound White Mag, who was later sold to George Washington Maupin.

1857

In 1857 William Fleming, an English importer ,purchased two black, white and tan  English hounds in England and shipped them to William Jason Walker in Kentucky. One of the hounds was a male by the name of  Rifler. The other was a bitch in whelp by the name of Marth. Marth had been bred in England to a dog that is unknown.

On the same night that they arrived in Kentucky, Rifler was carried on a hunt, Marth being to heavy with pups to go. Rifler proved that he knew the ways of the Red Fox.

When Marth's English pups were born, There was one Female and four males. The Tan and white Female was crippled when she was ran over by a wagon ,  crushing one of her feet. She was named Mash Foot, and was still a good foxhound in spite of being crippled. She was a good breeder and whelped several good litters of puppies. The Four males were named Fox (belonged to Jason Walker), Bally (belonged to Durett White), Bragg (belonged to Jeff  Maupin) and Troop (belonged to Jack Martin).

Marth was later bred to Tennessee Lead but she died before the pups were born.

Marth and Rifler and the five pups were the Imported stock of 1857 and are noted in Walker hound history with the Imp. preceding their names such as Imp.Rifler , Imp.Bragg Etc.. These hounds and the Ben Robinson male hound from Maryland (White Tickler were crossed on the old deer hounds and the hounds from Pennsylvania (Florence and Vic, both bitches) crossed on Tennessee Lead).  These  crosses made up the Early breed of Walker hounds.

More Walker Hound History

George Washington Maupin (Left), Tennessee Lead and William J. Walker (Right) 
 

History of the American Foxhound

The Beginning of the American Foxhound is older than the United States.  When the first settlers arrived on these shores, some brought hounds.  Importation of Irish, English, and French hounds down through the years have been crossed and re-crossed until a hound suitable for conditions in this country had evolved.

Most of the early leaders of the American colonies were lovers of the chase.  They worked very hard to have the best they could breed in the foxhound line. George Washington maintained a large pack of hounds at Mount Vernon.  He took great pride in his hounds, and continually sought to improve them.  In 1770, he imported a number of hounds from England, and in 1785, the Frenchman, La Fayette, shipped him a number of French foxhounds.  It was said the their voices were like the "Bells of Moscow".  These Virginia hounds were one of the foundation-stones of the American Foxhound.

There are a number of different strains in existence today that are recognized as American Foxhounds.  The most popular is the Walker, followed by July, Trigg, Calhoun, Hudspeth and Goodman.  The Walker, Goodman and Trigg strains can all be traced to Madison County, Kentucky and a stolen hound called Tennessee Lead.  According to legend, this hound was stolen out of a deer chase in Tennessee a few miles south of Albany, Kentucky by a trader in November 1852. This trader carried this rat-tailed, tight-haired black and tan hound to Madison County where he was sold to George Washington (Wash) Mauphin.  The origin and breeding of this hound is unknown, but because of his speed and ability to run a red fox, he was used extensively at stud.  His get were crossed on imported hounds from England, native Kentucky, Maryland and Birdsong hounds from Georgia.  Out of these crosses came the three major strains: Walker, Trigg and July. Tennessee Lead can be found approximately 30 or so generations back in many modern AKC Walker-origin showhound lineages.  However, probably the most influential and more modern foxhound sire represented in many Walker-origin 10 generation showhound pedigrees is CH Kentucky Lake Bugle Boy, who is back about 7-9 generations from current day hounds and about 22 generations more recent than Lead.

The Walker strain was first known as Mauphin hounds in Kentucky, but Wash Mauphin, while breeding some wonderful hounds, failed to keep many records.  It was left to the Walker brothers to use a careful method of breeding and record keeping on the Mauphin hounds.  This led to great results.  They shipped a large number of hounds to Texas shortly after the Civil War, and it was there that this strain was first called Walkers.  This name soon moved eastward and was forever accepted as designated name for the strain when published in the Red Ranger Stud Book.  A high level of gameness and endurance characterized this strain.

The Trigg strain was founded by Col. Haiden Trigg of Kentucky.  His aim was to breed a hound with a good coarse voice; black, white and tan blanket-backed; with white points.  He crossed Walkers, July, Birdsong and other strains to arrive at his ideal foxhound.  After his death, the strain decreased in popularity, but in recent years, has made a strong comeback and is quite popular today.  They have big voices and are close track runners.

The July strain came into prominence in Georgia.  This strain was preceded by the Birdsong Hounds, native Georgia Hounds, the Henry Hounds from Virginia and Maryland hounds from Howard County, Maryland.  In 1858, Mr. Nimrod Gosnell shipped a male hound to Colonel Miles G. Harris of Sparta, Georgia.  This hound was named July for the month in which he arrived.  This hound was outstanding and others of this strain were imported.  July was crossed on the Birdsong and Henry Hounds.  George J. Garrett, Col. Gil F. Birdsong, Miles G. Harris and Capt. Dick Baxter were probably the founding breeders of this strain.  At one time, this strain was called July-Maryland.  This strain, as exists today, is different in conformation from the Walker Hounds.

The Goodman was originally the Mauphin-Maryland strain.  Willis Goodman did little or nothing to start this strain, but he was the one who dispersed it over the country.  The hound buyers with whom he did business started to call the strain Goodman and it has continued until this day.  They were a mixture of Mauphin, Robinson-Maryland and Irish bloodlines.

Otie Calhoun was the original breeder of the Calhoun strain.  It originated in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee by the Calhoun family, beginning about 1860.