Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Tika's Laughs

I've been away from my Tika for a month now enjoying being a Southern tourist and attending a national genealogical conference, finishing up with some Library of Virginia research.  Found this delightful "dog" bit (quoted from C.R. Humphrey Smith's "Kentish Names & Arms" in Kent Life, 17 Nov 1972:

"..... on the thirde day of January 1579 was a decree for doggs and proclaymed in the church of St Nicholas after Evensong that all inhabitants of Newe Romney disposed to keep any dogg or curr, should before the twelveth of the said month enter their dogges and after observe the decrees in order as they were read, uppon payne in those decrees expressed. These were admitted to keep dogges.... William Eppes, three red spaniels, one bitch all spotted red....."

In other words, William Eppes, living in the town of New Romney in Kent, England, in 1580 had to "license" his "dogges."

For 400 years our dear doggers have had to be officially noted! Did you realize that?

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