{"id":11806,"date":"2015-11-04T12:01:31","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T17:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=11806"},"modified":"2015-11-04T12:01:31","modified_gmt":"2015-11-04T17:01:31","slug":"faithful-family-pets-researching-dogs-named-fido","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/faithful-family-pets-researching-dogs-named-fido.html","title":{"rendered":"Faithful Family Pets: Researching Dogs Named Fido"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was reading an article in Reader\u2019s Digest<\/em> by Brandon Specktor (\u201cUnlikely Legacies of U.S. Presidents.\u201d Reader\u2019s Digest November 2015, pages 176-182) that credits Abraham Lincoln\u2019s dog Fido<\/a> as the poster dog that made that name \u201csynonymous with the family pooch\u201d across the country.<\/p>\n

I wondered how common Fido had been as a dog\u2019s name before President Lincoln\u2019s time. To get a read on that I went to GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, since they let me search across millions of pages of daily newspapers from across the country, starting from 1690.<\/p>\n

I quickly found hundreds of old newspaper articles about dogs that were named Fido from the 1700s down to today. From the serialized children\u2019s stories that routinely appeared in the old newspapers \u2013 to news accounts \u2013 it was common for the family dog\u2019s name to be Fido.<\/p>\n

Fido was everywhere.<\/p>\n

For example, here is an early newspaper article about a dog named Fido living in Boston in 1791 \u2013 and he was missing.<\/p>\n

\"missing<\/a>
Independent Chronicle (Boston, Massachusetts), 1 September 1791, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Time and time again the news accounts referred to the faithfulness of Fido, the family dog.<\/p>\n

Like this story of Fido traveling over 300 miles to be with his family that had moved.<\/p>\n

\"montage<\/a>
Marietta Journal (Marietta, Georgia), 9 November 1893, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seems that a family from Reynolds, Georgia, had moved to South Florida.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Marietta Journal (Marietta, Georgia), 9 November 1893, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dog \u201cmuch prized by the family\u201d had \u201cfollowed hard by until he reached Jasper, Fla., a distance of nearly 300 miles.\u201d<\/p>\n

There the family made camp in Jasper for the night and in the morning they prepared to leave \u2013 but couldn\u2019t find their dog Fido.<\/p>\n

They continued heading further south in Florida without their family pet.<\/p>\n

What happened to Fido?<\/p>\n

[search_box]<\/p>\n

The article continues that the dog \u2013 after finding the family had left Jasper \u2013 returned all the way to their former home in Reynolds, Georgia. \u201cHe found the old home desolate\u2026[and] went to a neighbor\u2019s house where he had often hovered around the hearth. They recognized the dog, emaciated in form, and gave him food.\u201d<\/p>\n

They contacted the dog\u2019s family down in Florida and \u201cimagine the surprise and joy of his owner when informed of the dog\u2019s safe return to his [Georgia] home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stories of faithful dogs traveling hundreds of miles to be with their family have been published in newspapers for centuries.
\nDogs and families bond.<\/p>\n

When you write the stories of your family, be sure to include the story of Fido the family dog too. Don\u2019t let your family\u2019s pet stories be lost.<\/p>\n

Find them.
\nDocument them.
\nPut them into your online family history so that they will be easily found by the family for generations to come.<\/p>\n

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