Early American Funeral Undertaking

Tradesman Undertakers

• Colonial period: undertaking combined with cabinetmaking

• lack of regulation regarding funerals• 1799 Baltimore: funeral undertakers

appointed as coroners• War of 1812: western expansion– cabinet-making undertakers added services

Readings Question #1

• Who was the “furnishing undertaker”? What type of services did he offer? What influence did he have on the funeral service profession?

Performers of Personal Service

• nurse, nurse-governess, midwives• nurses also practiced healing arts• end of the 18th century: “layers out of the

dead”• 19th century: women less prominent role in

the “business” of undertaking• expanded services and wide range of tasks• tradesmen, craftsmen, male functionaries

Religious Functionaries

• up until the 19th century: churchyard and church cemetery main mode of “sepulture”

• role of the clergy was important• church sexton extended his mortuary

functions (early 19th century)

Readings Question #2

• Describe the evolution of the sexton to the sexton-undertaker in 19th century America.

Municipal Officers• “inviter to funerals”

Readings Question #3

• What were the duties of the “inviter to funerals”?

Readings Question #4

• Who were the Early American funeral undertakers? What were their duties?

Readings Question #5

• Why is the first half of the 19th century crucially important in the evolution of the modern funeral director?