J is for Jack and Jip, Jet and Juno, and Jonathon
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881), and Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Jack
President Abraham Lincoln is the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November. On October 3, 1863 he signed an Official Proclamation setting that day aside as a “day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” Later on in November a citizen sent the President a live turkey to be included in the feast but Tad, Lincoln’s youngest son, fell for the turkey and made friends with it. He named the doomed bird Jack and taught it to follow him around like a dog. Eventually he found out it was scheduled to be killed and cooked, he was so distraught he interrupted his father’s cabinet meeting begging for the life of his friend to be spared. There was practically nothing Lincoln wouldn’t do for his son, so he wrote a stay of execution for the turkey and Tad rushed it to the cook so Jack would live. (Representative vintage illustration.)
Jip
When the Lincoln’s arrived in Washington they were dog-less (remember Fido stayed in Springfield). A family friend wrote and said he had a little dog they might like. He described Jip as “a very cunning little fellow” and “very beautiful little dog” that “barks and stands straight on his hind feet and holds his fore feet up.” Jip was a mixed breed and Lincoln became very attached to him, often taking his luncheon with him. (representative painting)
Jet and Juno
President Rutherford B Hayes had a dog named Jet and a hunting dog named Juno. (Representative painting)

(c) Glasgow Museums; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
Jonathon
President Theodore Roosevelt’s children had a piebald rat named Jonathon that often climbed on the furniture and people. (Representative photo.)
It’s a short post today!!! J is a tough letter! Here’s a photo of me so you won’t forget what I look like!
We haven’t forgotten what you look like!! Our J for today is for jumping on the fence.
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I love the story of the pet turkey that was spared! Lincoln had quite the heart, didn’t he?
Another great post! Enjoying your series…
Michele at Angels Bark
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I wonder if this event is the origin of the annual Presidential Pardon of turkeys each year at Thanksgiving!
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dood…jonathon looks like an awesum snax huh…..oooooopz…we meen an awesum pet rat huh 😉 !!♥♥
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Calm down!! No eating of the pet rat!!
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Lincoln sure does show up a lot in these posts! J may be a hard letter, but this was still a great post! I can’t imagine how X will fare… 🙂
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He was a lover of all animals!!
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So I already had a mini-crush on Lincoln, but this stay-of-execution for Jack the Turkey has totally blown me over. Great man. Great, great man 🙂
Thanks for the visit over at Life In Dogs… I love that you love the A-Z series 🙂
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Lincoln seemed to be a gentle and humane soul.
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Excellent post Toby. Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt’s names come up a lot in this. We would never forget what you look like, but it is nice to see a photo of you. Penny sends a kiss.
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Lincoln and Roosevelt had a lot of animal interaction!!! Kisses back to Penny!
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OMC! The White House was a regular farm!
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J is definitely a tough letter but very informative nonetheless!
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Mes is Jumping for Joy at J!!!!
Who knew there has been so many pets whose lived in the White House???
Mes is LOVING it!
Kisses
Nellie
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And there are more to come!!
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Another delightful post. I’d be a bit concerned if I had such an overweight dog like Juno.
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