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Minnie and Ben
By Kathleen Mudge, Bernard
Museum, Delton, Michigan
Our thanks to the
Delton Community Web Pages for giving us permission to reproduce the
following.
http://www.delton-mi.com/minnie&ben.php
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In Prairieville Cemetery, near the back row on the east end of
the road there is a replica of a dog named Ben, lying on a cement
slab near the roots of a large tree, and guarding the grave of his
mistress, a girl named Minnie Doster.
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Ben was a good dog. He guarded the house, went after the cows,
and kept the chickens and Minnie's pet lambs out of the garden.
He guarded the house when Minnie was there, but if she left he went
with her. Minnie Doster was the youngest child in a family of
twelve children, ten of whom lived to adulthood. Ben had been
given to Minnie when he was a puppy.
Minnie came down with typhoid fever in the summer of 1892 and died
in September of that year (age 16). She was buried in the
Praireville Cemetery in the Doster family plot along with her little
brother Carl. Ben followed the funeral cortege to the
cemetery, and when the funeral was over, Chrisopher Doster called to
the dog to come. He listened for a moment and then lay down on
Minnie's grave.
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The family took him home and tried to keep him there. But he
wouldn't stay. He traveled the six miles to the cemetery and
back to Minnie's grave side. The family tied him up. He
chewed the rope apart and went back to the cemetery. He
continued to stay in the cemetery. People tried to feed him
and brought him water. He drank some of the water but he would
not touch the food.
One morning the family found Ben dead as close to Minnie as he could
get. The family couldn't separate them again and buried Ben at
the foot of Minnie's grave.
Mr. Doster had a firm in Cleveland make a replica of Ben and
placed it on a cement slab at the foot of Minnie's grave where it
has been for over one hundred years, his eyes alert and seeming to
follow the actions of anyone who visits the Doster family plot.
The inscription on the slab under Ben reads: "My dog Ben".
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