Funerals

Funerals & Cemeteries

A while back, the subject of Funerals came up on a mail list I had subscribed to. My first thought was not a positive. As the stories came in, I had a change of tune and found this to be an extremely interesting and educational topic.

Since that time, a cemetery mail list has been started in which volunteers photograph tombstones/headstones of ancestors of people in the genealogy community.

The following stories are shared by friends in the genealogy community. I am thankful for their interest in my project. If you have a story of funeral, memorial or burial you would like to share, please e-mail me.

A Baptist Minister's wife died about 2 A.M., and the church bells were rung. Shortly after, a coffin was telegraphed for and arrived by train. They loaded the coffin on a wagon and carried her, in part, via ferry to the family cemetery in a nearby county. She was buried that afternoon. 1880's

A very well know man died and was buried the same day with no marker. Both by his request. 1860's

My grandfathers brother died in Louisiana and my grandfather drove down from Central AL and put him in the backseat and drove to home to bury him. 1920's David

My grandmother's mother died in childbirth and my grandmother, age 12, washed her mothers body, clothed her and fixed her hair. She was laid out in the parlor and then buried in the family plot. She died in Jefferson Co., Illinois. Marilyn

I remember my grandmother telling me that many years ago, in the 1800's before everyone was embalmed and had sealed caskets; they sprinkled lime on the body just before closing the casket. She was very impressed that when her husband died, he was embalmed and put in a sealed casket in a vault, in 1927.

During WWI, her twenty-three year old daughter was a Red Cross nurse at Ft. Riley, KS. She volunteered to nurse soldiers stricken with the flu in 1918. She died within a week of working there. They had a funeral for her, but because of fear of contagion, it was held outside the church.

After my grandmother's death in 1948 at a hospital in Ottawa, KS, she was embalmed and then brought back to her farm home. She laid in state in her parlor, until the funeral the next day. Jean

My Mother told me when she was young in the early 1930's, the bodies were in the home. From there the coffin was taken by foot, carried to the church. From the church it was carried to the gravesite. All the family and friends would walk behind the coffin. It didn't matter how far the site was, it was carried.

I remember as a child when the bodies in coffins were in the house in the parlor. The same house I was born in, I saw two dead in the parlor. Life and Death in the same home. [Selah] Emily

Several years ago, an exhibit came to my town, a huge trailer, belonging to the National Funeral Directors Association--the exact name eludes me. In it were many artifacts, a history of American funerals. There were a large number of wreaths and fancy bouquets made in the last century from the hair of deceased loved ones. some were extremely intricate and must have taken months to make. There were also pieces of jewelry, pins, pendants, and rings, designed to hold their hair behind a small piece of glass.

The most interesting item was a replica of Lincoln's casket. It was black metal with many large (2") silver colored studs. Most unusual was its double metal lining. Because embalming had not yet been invented, and because he was kept much longer than corpses at that time, they had to make special arrangements. The coffin was built to have ice placed in the space between the inner and outer metal (zinc?) lining, this surrounding the body on three sides and keeping it cold. At the end was a drain hose under which they had placed a bucket.

I suppose that on the slow train that brought his body to Illinois, from Washington (and that took a circuitous route), they had to have a large supply of ice packed in straw. Some of it would have melted before it was even put to use.

The display also contained many elaborate mourning wreaths and bouquets made from the hair of deceased loved ones. some were 18 inches across! There was jewelry, too, made to hold a lock of hair.

I have an antique ring I bought in England that was made with a "hole" in the back that has a lock of hair in it and a cover of clear something...isinglass, I imagine. Elizabeth

As I was inserting the story of the human hair being used for wreaths, it brought to mind something I would like to share.

When my great aunt passed away, her possessions were few. A piece of mourning jewelry, shown below, was among the items. This is a watch fob made from the hair of my great grandmother. It was tightly braided in two styles of knots. The locket contains a picture of great grandmother Haney.

Great Grandmother Haney. It was her hair that was tightly braided in to a watch fob. Her hair was a soft, shiny dark brown.

In years past, women would have on their dresser a little covered jar/bowl. The lid would have a hole, and in the hole the woman would place pieces of their own hair. Eventually it would be used to make various pieces of mourning jewelry or even pictures.

In Germany, bodies are not embalmed and are buried in wooden coffins. After 25 years there may be a few bone fragments left that one sees when a grave is re-dug for a new burial.

At one German cemetery, an outdoor "oven" was used to burn any remaining bones when they opened the grave for reuse.

A Federal Dam project forced people, towns, cemeteries to move out of the Blue River Valley. the remains were dug up and moved to another cemetery on higher ground. Those families who were there to observe said some to the older graves without vaults had maybe a few buttons, jewelry, parts of bone, or maybe just a looser type of soil at the usual depth of the grave. They would put what they found in a container and mark it.

Epidemics Take Their Toll

Sadly, epidemics, like war, have accounted for many deaths for centuries. Many a baby never saw adulthood, much less, their first birthday.

1657 & 1687 Measles - Boston

1713 & 1729 " "

1739-40 " "

1690 Yellow Fever - New York

1732-3 Worldwide Influenza

1738 Smallpox - So. Carolina

1747 Measles - CT, NY, PA, SC

1759 & 1772 Measles - No. America

1761 Influenza - No. America

1775-6 Influenza - Worldwide