Duke of Bovina

[Bovina Historian]

I hope you're intrigued, for I need a little research help. 

In the course of searching on-line newspapers for references to Bovina and Butter, I came across a comic strip called Oaky Doaks. The strip was nationally syndicated and ran from the 1930s to 1961. Loosely set in the time of Camelot, it ran daily. The reason this particular strip came up is because from February into April 1944 there ran a story line about the Kingdom of Camelot having a butter famine after the Duke of Bovina, who supplied the butter, upped his prices. 

I feel that this story line about Bovina and Butter cannot be a coincidence - but how and/or why did this connection get made? 

This is how the strip was described in its Wikipedia entry: "Launched two years before Prince Valiant, the strip was set in medieval times. Neither a prince nor a knight, Oaky Doaks was merely a muscle-headed farm boy who constructed his suit of armor from the tin roof of a shed. Setting out on his father's plow horse, Nellie, Oaky Doaks rode into a series of misadventures." The strip was written by AP Newsfeaturs comics editor William McCleery and drawn by magazine cartonist Ralph Fuller. 

I'm trying to find a connection with the writer or artist to Bovina. No luck so far, though Fuller was an old Bovina name and there was a Fuller in Bovina in the 1930s - Ted Fuller. I cannot find a relationship so far. Of course, there may be no relationship at all. Fuller lived in NY City then later in New Jersey. In 1940, he was living in Bergen County, NJ. It's possible he visited the area and heard about Bovina's butter history. I've had even less luck finding any connection for William McCleery, though again, he may have paid a visit to the area and heard the story.

So, I'm particularly asking the more senior of my blog followers if they recall the strip and if they remember any comments about this Bovina story line. Here's an image of one of the strips: