Most breeds of dog have a founding sire that they can point to, the “Adam” of their breed. Land Spaniels have Bebb, Irish Setters have Elcho, and so forth. Chesapeake Bay Retrievers have an “Eve”, rather than an Adam. Her name was Rose, and this is her story. Rose was born in June of 1872. She belonged to Gardner Greene Hammond of Connecticut and was bred by J. H. Strombergh of Maryland. Mr. Strombergh was a member of the famed Carroll’s Island ducking club and was also an early importer and breeder of Pointers. Strombergh’s Rose was from Carroll’s Island; her pedigree was lost in the clubhouse fire that destroyed that famed club’s breeding ledgers, so we have no record of her ancestors. Rose’s sire was a dog named Sam, belonging to Benjamin Jenkins of Maryland. Mr. Jenkins’s dogs appear to have been quite well known; several early pedigrees show only that the dogs were “from Ben Jenkins’ strain” which was apparently enough to certify good breeding in the era of gentleman’s agreements. Mr. Hammond was a prominent early industrialist who owned a farm near New London, Connecticut named Walnut Grove. Hammond was a keen sportsman and frequent contributor to Forest and Stream, a leading sporting publication of its day. Hammond raised several litters of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, and his son Stephen also raised Pointers at Walnut Grove. Hammond lost interest in dog breeding in the early 1880s, but his son would continue with Pointers, eventually being asked to judge them at Westminster; a singular honor given that the Westminster Kennel Club was originally founded for the importation and breeding of fine Pointers. Of Rose, we have very little description. She was registered under the American Kennel Registry, an early registration and sporting publication. Her AKR registration number is 142, and her description reads: “otter, white points, otter coated”. Her registration goes on to state she won first prizes at Boston and New York. This has been verified through marked catalogues at the AKC, where Rose is listed as having competed at the Massachusetts Kennel Club show in March 1878, and Westminster Kennel Club in May of that year. These two wins would make Rose an NAKC Champion. Only two other Chesapeake Bay Retrievers would make Championships under the NAKC rules; both were closely related to Rose. One was her litter brother Rob, a dog belonging to Tip Crisp of Baltimore. The other was rose’s son, Pride of the Chesapeake. Pride of the Chesapeake has no known descendants. Pride was stolen from his owner and disappeared for two years but was later recovered. Pride’s owner lived in Chicago. Dogs of the upper Midwest were predominantly of stock purchased from O. D. Foulks’ kennels. Foulks preferred the Red Winchester strain of Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and so a dog of Otter type would not have been used. In those days, inbreeding was heavily used to keep a strain “pure”, so making a cross between the Otter type and Red Winchester strains would have been considered similar to how we would view the crossing of a Chessie with a Lab today! Pride did not fare well in Midwest shows; no doubt, he looked very different from the type favored by Kierstead and Poyneer, the premier Chesapeake breeders and exhibitors of the Midwest. Pride earned the two first prizes needed for an NAKC Championship in smaller shows in New York and Toronto, where the Otter type preferred by Eastern breeders was the more popular strain. Crisp’s Rob produced lines that continue today through two of his offspring: Frederick Gunter’s Flora, and Crisp’s Turk. Turk’s son Loring’s Sport was later bred to Rose and her daughters several times, although only two of those produced any offspring that we can trace today. The Sport x Rose cross did, however, produce two bitches who founded lines that continue today: Sallie, belonging to Edward Lynch of Marshy Point Maryland, and Ruth, another Hammond-owned bitch. The 1881 litter was recorded as being bred by Louis C. Clark, who would later become head kennel man at Fordhook Farm, famous early Collie kennel belonging to W. Atlee Burpee. This is the only record of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers being associated with Burpee’s scientific breeding efforts which would lead to the Burpee Seed Company’s dominance in developing seed strains for gardeners worldwide. Ch. Pride of the Chesapeake has no known descendants. Pride was stolen from his owner and disappeared for two years but was later recovered. Pride’s owner lived in Chicago. Dogs of the upper Midwest were predominantly of stock purchased from O. D. Foulks’ kennels. Foulks preferred the Red Winchester strain of Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and so a dog of Otter type would not have been used. In those days, inbreeding was heavily used to keep a strain “pure”, so making a cross between the Otter type and Red Winchester strains would have been considered similar to how we would view the crossing of a Chessie with a Lab today! Pride did not fare well in Midwest shows; no doubt, he looked very different from the type favored by Kierstead and Poyneer, the premier Chesapeake breeders and exhibitors of the Midwest. Pride earned the two first prizes needed for an NAKC Championship in smaller shows in New York and Toronto, where the Otter type preferred by Eastern breeders was the more popular strain. Rose was also bred to a dog purchased from Dr. W. H. Keener of Maryland, named Rake. Rake and Rose sometimes appear as Keener’s Rake and Keener’s Rose, although there is no documentation to support Dr. Keener ever owning Rose. Dr. Keener did own several offspring of Rose. These descendants of Dr. Keener’s dogs continued primarily through the bitch line, to produce many of the founding lines in the breed today. One Rake x Rose daughter Ruby II made her way to the Midwest, belonging to John M. Leekley of Illinois. In her first litter, Ruby II was bred to a dog named Foam, himself a Rose son sired by a dog named Albert. We know nothing of Albert, except that the advertisement Hammond placed in Forest and Stream advertising the litter simply states that he is “of pure Chesapeake breeding”. Albert belonged to Mr. Penniman, owner of a neighboring farm. Albert appears in some records simply as “The Penniman Dog”. Ruby III was from the Foam x Ruby II litter. Ruby III belonged to L. K. Mason of Iowa and was bred to Ch. Barnum and his sons, as well as Gowrie, full brother to Barnum’s sire and dam. Gustav Hansen purchased Drake from Rose’s last litter (bred to Rake). Drake would become the founding sire of the Osceola Kennels of Wisconsin. Offspring from these litters were shipped from the Midwest to all parts of the country, thanks to the new railroads springing up. Hammond’s Rose would appear in almost all Chesapeake Bay Retriever pedigrees by the end of the 19th century. Of the 63,868 dogs in the database (as of this writing), 58,710 descend from Hammond’s Rose.
