An Album of Ancestors’ Family Pets

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Thank you to everyone who sent a photo of a pet in the family! This week, I’d like to share what was e-mailed to me. I’m so glad that each picture came with a story, too. This was a lot of fun!

Jim Musso wrote “First, this is my mom with her family’s pet pig, Spud. Mom grew up on a farm in Sheboygan, Wis.; she was born in 1925, so this photo must be from the early 1930s.”

He continued, “according to Mom, Spud would only eat from the hands of family members, and preferred standing on a chair with his front hooves while being fed. She recalls Spud walking under the kitchen table and carrying the table on his back as he walked away. My grandparents, Vincent and Hattie Fee, obviously liked animals.

In the foreground is the family’s dog, Jigs, no doubt waiting for a morsel to fall his way. Jigs preferred travelling in a wheelbarrow, as can be seen in the second photo.”

Bethany Klus wrote that the photo below is “a cabinet card-style photo from an album of photos taken in Alpena, Michigan from the late 1800s. Most of the photos are unlabeled, including the one I’m sending to you. The dog in my photo could be siblings with the one in the blog photo, they look that similar.”

I have to agree that it definitely is a Terrier, possibly a Cairn Terrier although they tend to have darker fur (I’m a veterinarian when I’m not a genealogist!).

“The second photo,” she added, “is my great-grandfather Royal Frederick Flock who was born in 1892 in Edenville, Mich. It was probably taken in the early 1920s when he lived in Detroit. With him is the pet cat.”

Not all the pet pictures submitted show a real, live pet. Kathy Amoroso wrote that the photo below is, “my grandmother and her family. She’s the one on the fake pig. They are in Germany in 1913 and this is from one of those postcard photos.”