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.


(Click on images to enlarge)
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:


(Click on image to enlarge)

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.