I've often thought that there should be a way to include family pets in genealogy family trees and web sites -- our animals are so much a part of the family! So here are some photos of important animals in our lives today, and in those of our ancestors. These first photos are of our current beloved pets, Nero, the black German Shepherd, Sophie, my parents' poodle, who came to live with us in 2013, and Cuckoo, the bird.
Nero and Sophie, in Virginia, 2013
Cuckoo, the jenday conure parrot, about 2012
My grandmother, Elizabeth Ross Carl, with her horse, Sweetie, near Harrisburg, 1922, holding my mother, baby Emily
Rusty, the Carl family dog, about 1932, in Bronxville
Henry P. Fletcher's dog, name unknown; probably in Washington, D.C., about 1920; Uncle Henry and Aunt Beatrice saved several pictures of this dog, along with her puppies, in their scrapbooks
Coogles, the dog, with Elizabeth Ross (on the left, my grandmother) and Martha ("Tuts") Fletcher, in Harrisburg, about 1912
Dimpy, my childhood dog, with Jingles (a.k.a., Henry), in St. Louis, about 1966
Jingles ("Henry", as named by my father), in St. Louis, 1966
Cocoa, dog of my teenage years, in Hong Kong, about 1969
Freckles, my cousins' childhood dog, in Barrington, New Jersey, about 1967
Mary Lillian Carl ("Lady", or "Auntie", to younger generations), with her namesake niece, Mary Lillian "Missy" Carl, with dogs Peggy and Peppie; Peggy is the Boston bull terrier, and Peppie is the Scottie; picture taken in Greencastle about 1930
Pitt F. Carl, Sr. ("Dandy") and Emily Fletcher Carl ("Mammo") with dog Muffin, in Greencastle, probably in the 1920s.
My grandfather, Pitt Carl, Jr., with the famous Blackie, a dog with a big personality, in the Bronxville living room, probably in the 1950s