ASHLAND — In early America, settlers cared for their own dead after a family member passed away at home. With their own hands, they washed, dressed, combed the hair, laid their loved one out and mourned.
While neighbors built the coffin or wound the shroud, others dug the grave, cooked a meal or sat with the body for a few days.
Sometimes communities had groups of women who came to the home to assist with “laying out the dead” in a suitable area of the home. These ladies, along with family members, would assist with making the funeral and burial preparations.
In the 1800s, American traditions started to evolve and our homes grew larger. Funerals became a very public affair. Having a parlor or a large front room area in homes became popular so the dead could be properly displayed. The rooms also provided the necessary space for callers who came to pay their respects. The rooms were referred to as “death rooms.”
Death rooms were often shut off from the rest of the house and were filled with the family’s finest possessions such as a piano, sterling silver, family portraits and high quality furniture. The body was placed on display in a coffin that was usually homemade but possibly purchased at a local general store.
Drapes and shutters closed and heavy black crepe fabric was attached to the doorknob or knocker of the home or perhaps a wreath with a black or purple ribbon would be placed to notify others that a death had occurred within the home. Family members sometimes held vigils 24/7.
Black was the traditional color for mourners. Men and children wore black arm bands and women who lost a spouse wore heavy, modest dresses with black hats and veils which covered their faces. By the late 1800s, black clothing was so well affiliated with the act or process of mourning that any woman who dared wear black when not in mourning was looked down upon and seen as “dangerously eccentric.”
An unusual practice which was most popular from the mid to late 1800’s was to collect hair from the deceased. Since there was no photography, hair would be cut from the dead person and an item was made as a remembrance, such as a piece of jewelry, small souvenirs, flowers or other shapes.
Early American families often buried their dead in family plots or in church cemeteries because there were no public cemeteries. Families sometimes went together to designate a certain area of their land as a burial ground. Ashland’s first public cemetery wasn’t opened until 1856, over 40 years after it was founded. Early head stones were very plain and simple.
The first undertaker in Ashland was Jacob Krichbaum. He came here in 1829 and owned a furniture store at the corner of Orange and Third Streets. It was commonplace for a local furniture store to build and sell coffins as needed for the families they serviced. A simple pine coffin in 1840 cost between $2 and $3.
William Frazee also had a furniture store on Orange Street. He teamed up with Eli Wallach, who was an undertaker and they went into business together. Black horses and buggies were used as hearses to take a body to its burial location but they also had a special hearse for children.
It was ornate and white in color with two small, white horses named Frank and Nellie. The horses walked slowly and reverently during funeral processions to the cemetery but as soon as they were done, they reportedly galloped back home.
Newspaper descriptions of funerals were always very colorful. They listed the names of the pallbearers, how many flowers were sent, who traveled in from out of town, how many attended and often quoted the minister’s eulogy.
Black-trimmed memorial cards usually listed the exact date and time of day someone died along with the exact number of years, months and days they lived.
If a local dignitary died, the entire town came to pay their respects to the deceased.
Schools and businesses closed and mourners followed the carriage to the cemetery on foot.
It was during the Civil War when practices for caring for the dead started to change.
Families wanted loved ones to be sent home for a proper funeral and the number of soldiers who died were staggering. Since there was no refrigeration, embalming practices on the battlefield were developed to slow decomposition. Bodies were then shipped via train and delivered to the home by a local livery driver.
Public and military cemeteries later became more widespread and burial-related equipment and services moved away from furniture stores and became their own specialized businesses. Undertakers became morticians and morticians became funeral directors who employed other staff to assist with visitation, funeral services and burial.
