Historical Perspectives of Death and Burials

Genealogists spend hours reading death records and walking in cemeteries. Yet we typically ignore the events of the three or four days prior to burial. To really appreciate your ancestors' lives, you also need to understand their deaths, funerals, and burials, as well as the roles of family members in the process.

Unlike today, most people 100 or more years ago died at home. Those who were ill typically did not go to a hospital for treatment and care by skilled doctors and nurses. In fact, most stayed at home and were cared for by family members. Upon death, the body was prepared for burial by the family members. Wakes were held at home, after which the body was typically moved to a church for the funeral service, then taken directly to the cemetery for burial. (In northern climates, burial often had to wait until the ground thawed in the spring. Bodies were stored in tombs until then.)

Colonial burial grounds were distinctly unpleasant places--overcrowded, filled with weeds, and marked by the odor of decay. So bad were conditions in New York that residents blamed a yellow fever epidemic in l822, which killed 22,000 residents, on the unsanitary conditions in the city's cemeteries.

Undertakers are a relatively new profession, in historical terms. Professional undertakers were almost unknown in America until the mid to late 1800s. From the dawn of civilization through much of the nineteenth century, the family handled everything. In fact, this practice continued well into the twentieth century in farming areas and amongst the poor. On many farms, the dead were even buried in the back yard or in a nearby field.

As the U.S. developed and cemeteries were built, death became more professionalized. Undertakers and mortuaries sprang up and started handling the details.

For more information about dying, mourning, and funerals in the United States, look at "Responses to Death in Nineteenth Century America" on the University of Houston's web site at http://www.hfac.uh.edu/gl/usdeath1.htm

Now there is a twenty-first century movement to go back in time. Hospice care now suggests returning a person to his or her home for their last days, whenever appropriate. In 45 states, it is even legal to bury a loved one at home, according to the Washington Post. There are different rules for each state, whether it be the need for a coroner's report or a permit. But "at home" burials have been legal for some time. In several states, it has always been legal. The five states where it's illegal today are Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Nebraska, and New York.

There is even a federation of nonprofit consumer information societies that focuses on dying, funerals, and cemeteries. The Funeral Consumers Alliance is dedicated to protecting a consumer's right to choose a meaningful, dignified, and affordable funeral. While not everyone will go for the burial in the back yard, the Funeral Consumers Alliance does encourage everyone to think about the cost of funerals and to make plans now to do whatever he or she wishes. Some of the common goals of members are to reduce costs, even to dispensing with some of the funeral homes' services that many of us take for granted.

You can read a lot more about the Funeral Consumers Alliance at their web site at http://www.funerals.org.

My thanks to newsletter reader Matt Misbach for telling me about this organization and its web site.

Comments

[Matt]

Good article Dick. I'm just curious what happens when you sell your house, and the new owner decides he doesn't want yoru ancestors in his back yard anymore.

[Dick Eastman]

---> I'm just curious what happens when you sell your house, and the new owner decides he doesn't want yoru ancestors in his back yard anymore.

Well, if you change the phrase "back yard" to "nearby field," we have had that happen thousands of times in this country. A century or more ago many people buried their dead in "farm cemeteries" not too far away from the farm house. Most of the time they were not literally in the back yard but were not that far away. Yet I believe the farms were later sold without difficulties. I still see lots of those tiny cemeteries around today.

When I was in Tahiti a few years ago, I was shown a tombstone of a man who was buried in his FRONT yard, maybe six or eight steps from the front door of the house. It was a tiny house lot. However, I didn't think to ask about the resale value of the house.

- Dick Eastman

[Chris Dunham]

I've always envied those people who have a little family cemetery in their backyard. The next time I buy a house, I might ask the realtor to only show me homes where the original tenants are still hanging around.

[Trish Lewis]

Mr. Eastman, I was aware of the funeral alliance, but thank you SO much for mentioning here where many others will learn of it. It is one of the most comprehensive and most excellent resources for finding out your rights about how you want your body or the body of your loved one handled. Laws vary from state to state. I have learned about many alternatives to the average modern burial or even cremation. It got me started on preparing my living will and medical power of attorney, to add to my regular will. I think this is just being thoughtful to take of such things...

[Barbara Babcock]

While up at our cabin in Maine last week, I wondered if I could be buried, some day, in those beautiful woods of ours. Now, I know that I can. Thank you!

[R. Unrein]

Thank you for this information. I have always known I didn't want to end up an anonymous brass placque among many. I have loved the old family cemeteries, my family is lucky enough to have one, my 2x greatgrandparents founded it on the family farm. That is where I want to end up. Tombstones tell a story, whether it's just a name and a date, or a touching declaration left by family in rememberance. It may even cast illumination on the family finances at the time. Brass placques don't tell the same story. Brass placques don't draw you in to visit those that have gone before you, not like tombstones do. They have no sense of history, and like all good genealogist's, I love history.

[gail]

Is there a Texas law that will prohibit buriel of a person in their backyard.