Dogs in Cemeteries, Part II

Another addition to my collection. Yesterday I was helping to clean up the storm-related damage in Ross Cemetery when I came across this lovely grave marker:


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In this case we find an explanation of the dog statuette in Mr. Cash's FindAGrave entry. It memorializes his bond with Lady and Brittany.

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I was glad I had the opportunity to be part of the clean-up effort at the cemetery. (Most Sunday afternoons I spend in the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society museum, but the museum was closed for the Labor Day weekend.) Ross Cemetery is a beautiful and serene place, like a nature preserve, with the added interest of history all around you. Volunteers will be meeting there every Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. for as long as it takes to clean up the storm damage.

Unidentified Pugnacious Teenager

Another entry into our growing collection of teenagers who managed to get through the eighth grade, or through catechism classes, but didn't appreciate having to get photographed for the occasion.

This one looks as if she intends to hurt somebody once this is all over.


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Since the photo was taken at Showman's Gallery, we can date it somewhere between about 1893 and 1898.

She is standing in front of the same painted backdrop as the teenage zombie linked above. I wonder if they were in the same class? How often did Showman refresh his painted backdrops?

Female Zabulon Skipper

I think I finally found a female Zabulon skipper to match the male I found eight years ago. Time flies like a skipper, doesn't it?


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Bonus shot of buckwheat — real buckwheat, not climbing false buckwheat.







It volunteered under one of my bird feeders. The birdseed mix I use must include buckwheat seeds. It's pretty, but it's not native.

I'm still too busy and tired to do any real posting.

[Formerly] Unidentified People with Food ca. 1962

[8/19/2026 update: the people in the photo have been identified, at least tentatively. Left to right: Ralph Kennedy, Dick Boyd(?), Dwight Mathis, Chief of Police William McGinn, and Officer Dick Raiza. My thanks to Suzi Schnabel Emig and Barbara Phillips Rowley.]


All the good people who have been sharing food in the wake of the August 11 derecho/tornadoes made me think of this photo.


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There are no notes on the back to tell us who these people are or what sort of event this was. But this photo was one of three that I recently bought as a package, and the other two pertain to the Hobart Police Department and date to the early 1960s, so this one likely does too. Not to mention the uniformed officer at right, and the fashions.

No reason to believe it involved a disaster, though.

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[further update] While searching for Chief McGinn's first name, I came across this article from the Hammond Times of June 26, 1963, which teaches us that if we're going to try to start a bookie operation, we should not order five telephones all at once.


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Milkweed Leaf Beetle Larva

Since I'm too busy to write about anything that requires research, here's some bug pictures.


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This ugly little guy will eventually become less ugly.

I have only just learned about Mullerian mimicry and Batesian mimicry. The adult Milkweed Leaf Beetle is an example of the former: it shares the vivid orange-and-black coloring of several insect species that hang around on milkweeds and are toxic to predators. Milkweed Leaf Beetles, Milkweed Bugs, Monarch butterflies, etc. — they all have the same color scheme, and they will all give a bird an upset stomach. In the case of Batesian mimicry, a non-toxic species adopts the coloring of a toxic one to "borrow" protection from predators.

There, now you have some information to bore people with at parties.

In conclusion, if you would like to see some pictures of "frolicking" insects on milkweed, go here. I appreciate this guy's sense of humor.

Dogs in Cemeteries

Today we have two tales of dogs in cemeteries.

The first comes from the "Local Drifts" column of the Hobart Gazette of February 22, 1924:

An incident of "dog faithfulness" is told of the pet dog of the late Wm. Kruse, who was buried Feb. 3 in the Hobart cemetery. The dog remains almost constantly upon the grave, departing only when forced to go to his master's late home for something to eat.

I previously wrote about William Kruse's death. I suppose it was the kind housekeeper, Emma Dunn, who was feeding the dog.

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The second dog in a cemetery came to my attention through a Facebook post by Michael White about one of his recent visits to some historical places in northwest Indiana. The post included some photos taken in Adams Cemetery, in Morgan Township, Porter County.


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Images courtesy of Michael White.

As a dog person, I was charmed by this little cast-stone canine, but also mystified: surely there could not be a dog buried in a human cemetery?

The dog statuette is near the grave of John B. Covert.



That does not necessarily mean it has anything to do with Mr. Covert, or even that the statuette is now in the spot where it was originally placed.[1]

I went looking online for anything that could explain the presence of the dog. The only thing I could find involving both the Covert name and a dog is this story from the Valparaiso Vidette-Messenger of September 6, 1949:


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But, again, this canine WWII veteran could not be buried in the Adams Cemetery. Wilford Covert is not buried there, either; his grave is in Portland, Oregon.

Wilford and John Covert were cousins of some degree — Jeremiah Covert (1829-1906) was John's grandfather and Wilford's great-grandfather, if I'm reading the family trees on Ancestry.com correctly.

Maybe the Coverts in general were dog lovers. Maybe the statuette was indeed intended for John, to honor a beloved dog he had lost or left behind. Or maybe the statuette has wandered from its original placement and has nothing to do with the Coverts.

"Maybe" all kinds of things, right? I could sit here all day and think of possible explanations, and still not be close to the truth. I hope it has not been lost to time. I hope someone out there knows the story of this little sleeping dog.

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[1] Recall my then-and-now post of the Chester Cemetery where in one case I could not produce a definite "now" because the arrangement of the old stones had seemingly changed so much since 1963.

Just In Case You Want Some Bricks

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I'm guessing maybe this thing was handed out by salesmen calling on prospective clients?

As we know, the Kulage Brick Works operated for about 30 years, starting circa 1892[1] and ending sometime during the 1920s. I previously posted about the brickyard's being indefinitely shut down in 1921, but I don't know if that was the end of it.[2]

The one-cent McKinley postage stamp tells us that the postcard must date to 1902 or later, since a president must be dead for at least a year before appearing on a postage stamp. [7/16/2026 update: the stamp dates to 1907 or later; see the comments to this post.] I have found an Ebay listing for such a postcard with a 1910 postmark; another listing elsewhere dates an unused postcard ca. 1907. But I can't find any information about when this particular stamp stopped being used.[3]

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[1] I previously posted a 1919 article stating that Otto Kulage "purchased the plant about twenty-seven years ago," i.e., 1892.
[2] Notes on the back of some photos at the Hobart Historical Society give the approximate starting and ending dates as 1885 to 1925-26. Per the 1919 article cited above, the brickyard was already operating when Otto Kulage bought it and gave it his name.
[3] A history of postage rates for postcards can be found here.