17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COFFIN BURIAL IN AMERICA

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17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COFFIN BURIAL IN AMERICA
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17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COFFIN BURIAL IN AMERICA

• The Egyptians 5000 years ago buried their dead in
  simple graves at the east end of their villages.
  Thousand of years later they used most of their
  energies up in the care, preservation and
  disposal of the dead.
• The mere passage of time or the geographic
  location guarantees nothing about the burial
  customs of certain cultures or people.

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17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COFFIN BURIAL IN AMERICA

• In society today we as Americans spend more money
  on funerals than do most of our neighboring
  countries.
• It is interesting to note that our neighboring
  cultures spend more time observing morning
  customs and ceremonies than we in America do.

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17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COFFIN BURIAL IN AMERICA

• It must be admitted that the precise nature of
  ceremonies, goods and equipment incorporated into
  behavior toward the dead is always subject to the
  circumstances of a particular culture.
• War Natural Resources
  Poverty
• Famine National Disasters
  Wealth
• Pestilence
  

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17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COFFIN BURIAL IN AMERICA

• It is highly doubtful that coffins were imported
  at any time during the colonial period. Why?
• Ocean voyage was costly and slow and the length
  of time was to long in a society that did not
  practice embalming. They couldnt wait for the
  order to be filled abroad and shipped to them.

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17TH AND 18TH CENTURY COFFIN BURIAL IN AMERICA

• During this time the colonist did not stockpile
  coffins. Why?
• Because there were coffinmakers available locally
  who could make the coffins on demand and they
  turned out pretty respectable coffins.
• Coffin furniture- trimmings and fittings- were
  imported during the 18th century.

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• Coffin furniture began to take hold in America
  after the 1800s.
• Early American coffins were made of wood.
• The different varieties of wood revealed the
  economic status of the person buried.
• The shape was nearly always octagonal with all
  the sides flat.

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• When the trade of coffin making became a
  full-time occupation, coffin-shops emerged
  followed by coffin warehouses and furnishings
  undertakers.(remember from the previous chapters)

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EARLY COFFIN SHOPS AND COFFIN WAREHOUSES

• Following the war of 1812, there was rapid growth
  and spread of coffin shops. Why?
• With the productive enterprise of coffin making,
  the emphasis in funerals began to shift in the
  direction of the coffin, especially with regard
  to price, quality and diversity of purpose.
• In 1825 John Dillon made a Mahogany Coffin,
  lined, trimmed, hinged, and mounted for 24.

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• Remember (from chapter 4) that in 1678 David
  Porters casket was only 12s, which was less than
  1/4 of the total cost of the liquor alone. In
  1825 the casket was almost 2/3 of the funeral
  bill.
• The most significant development in funeral
  business in the 19th century was the growth of
  coffin shops and the increased attention to the
  casket as a major item in the burial.

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VARIATION IN EARLY FUNCTION AND TYPE

• Throughout the 19th century in America, by means
  of experimentation carried out by a considerable
  number of people, the old fashioned coffin slowly
  became transformed into the modern casket.

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VARIATION IN EARLY FUNCTION AND TYPE

• Around 1800 there was a determined effort to
  improve the function, style, and composition of
  the coffin.
• They wanted to improve by
• increasing utility
• better indicate the importance of the deceased
  and their family

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• provide protection against grave robbers
• protect against the elements
• should be more artistic and beautiful in order to
  influence an aesthetic movement in burials.
• Lead lined coffins were used to help prevent
  decay of the body.

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• The American Naval hero of the Revolutionary War,
  John Paul Jones was buried in 1792 in a lead
  coffin and his limbs wrapped in tin foil.
• In 1905 his body was recovered and was still
  recognizable because of the preservation ability
  of the lead and tin foil.
• That being said, why do you think we dont just
  wrap people in tin foil and bury them today?

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• With the growth of medical science in England and
  the increased need for cadavers to be used in
  anatomical studies the practice of graverobbing
  and body snatching became common enough to cause
  alarm over the safety of the dead.
• British trade undertakers were the first to
  utilize coffins made of iron that were advertised
  as ghoul-proof. (improved coffins pg. 162)

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• Before 1850 the primary claim of caskets was that
  is was beautiful and therefore suitable for use
  in a public funeral. This started the gradual
  drift in mood of the funeral to from gloomy to
  beautiful.
• A corresponding development is to be found in the
  current emphasis on restorative art as one of the
  most valued aspects of the embalming process.

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• Five major themes in defining and fulfilling the
  proper function of the coffin.
• Utility
• Status indication
• Preservation of the body
• Protection
• Aesthetic representation

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STONE AND METAL COFFINS

• Coffins of material other than wood made their
  appearance in the first half of the 19th century.
• In 1836 patents were granted for coffins made of
  stone or marble and hydraulic cement.
• These patents were allowed to expire in 1849
  because the coffins were hard to manufacture and
  or too heavy to be handled and were not very nice
  looking.

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STONE AND METAL COFFINS

• By 1860 coffin patents included iron, cement,
  marble and artificial stone, potters clay

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• Cement and wood, zinc, iron and glass.
• Before the turn of the century the list was
  extended to include elastic material including
  vulcanized rubber, fabricated metals,
  papier-mache, aluminum, cloth and wood, wood and
  glass, and coffins with inner-coffins.

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Fisk Metallic Coffin

• It was perhaps the most remarkable coffin ever
  patented and put into widespread use in America.

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Fisk Metallic Coffin

• An Air-tight Coffin of Cast or Raised Metal.
• It resembled an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus with
  a glass plate to allow the face to be visible
  (like a divers helmet).
• It was made by Almond D. Fisk.
• It claimed to be air-tight, used the least amount
  of metal possible, so it was lightweight.

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• It could either take all of the air out of the
  casket or if you wanted to you could add any gas
  or fluid you wanted.
• What could they have filled the coffin with?
• They sold for 7.00 to 40.00.
• During the Civil War advertisements, the Fisk
  coffins were sold by other manufacturing
  companies so we could believe the patent expired
  or Almond D. Fisk had died.

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• Advertisement pg. 165
• In the burial of The Honorable John C. Calhoun at
  the Congressional Cemetery the other congressmen
  were impressed to write- We witnessed the
  utility of your ornamental burial case. It
  impressed us with the belief that it is the best
  article known by us for transporting the dead to
  their final resting place.
• President James K. Polk was buried in a similar
  case after being wrapped in a silk winding sheet,
  his coffin was lined in copper and sealed.
  (Titanic unknown baby boy)

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Large Scale Manufacture of Metallic Burial Cases

• By the mid-1800s the small coffin shops were no
  longer dominating the market.
• Stove manufacturers began to make burial cases
  out of metal.
• Their advantages were
• protection from plagues and epidemics
• protection against water seepage and vermin
• easy to move for re-burial

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• Re-burial was important because it was not
  uncommon for urban cemeterys to be moved
  frequently. Also, bodies could be transported
  easily with the steamboat and the rail in the
  metal coffins.
• The large scale shipment of bodies back to family
  homesteads or family vaults no doubt received its
  greatest impetus with the mass return of the
  Civil War soldiers killed in battle.

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• In 1854 the wholesale price of a six foot
  Ornamental Bronzed Case was 20.50.
• In 1854 a Cloth Covered Case was an additional
  21.00
• The cloth covered casket were a European
  designthey constituted the luxury level of
  burial receptacles.
• How do we now view cloth covered caskets?

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Metallic Burial Casket

• In 1859, A.C. Barstow of Rhode Island developed
  the ogee design, a system of overlapping ribs.

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Metallic Burial Casket

• The curves of the ogee design served a specific
  purpose, what do you thing the purpose was?
• To remove as much of the excess material as
  possible. It goes without saying the less
  material used the lighter the casket becomes and
  the less material wasted therefore the lower the
  cost of the casket.

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Metallic Burial Casket

• The term casket suggests a jewel box or a
  container for something valuable (a Cask).
• Iron Casketts on the import list of articles in
  the Colonies referenced an iron box or container
  not a burial receptacle.
• Therefore the term evolved as an American term
  from the two origins.

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Metallic Burial Casket

• In 1862 there was a change in the burial cases.
  The advertisements spoke of its advantages
• it was simple in design
• not ornate
• air-tight
• it claimed it would stop the spread of contagion
  and for a time would arrest the process of
  decomposition.

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• The most radical change was that they were now
  building the casket so it consisted of two large
  sections of plate glass.
• Why do you think they wanted to start using plate
  glass?
• The decision was based on the presentation of the
  dead in a receptacle designed to provide an
  aesthetically pleasing setting for the visually
  prominent and dramatically centered object of
  attention.

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• In the early 1870s the first true sheet metal
  caskets were made by Crane, Breed, and Co.
• This was the beginning of the lighter sheet metal
  caskets gradually replacing the heavier cast iron
  caskets.

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• In the 1890s the term casket was starting to be
  use more frequently than coffin.
• The caskets were square in form and the octagonal
  coffin was no longer used.
• Still today the wedge shaped octagonal coffin,
  rarely appears in America, and the American
  casket has yet to be popularly accepted in
  England and Europe.
• Why do you think that is?

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Cloth Burial Cases

• An actual line of cloth covered caskets began in
  1871 with the Samuel Stein Patent Burial Casket.
• They were made of wood with metal reinforcements
  and were cloth covered.
• It was his idea to make a casket that was light
  strong and aesthetically pleasing.

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Cloth Burial Cases

• Stein was a showcase builder and tried to carry
  his showcase idea over to the casket design
  with a casket that was built with all glass sides
  and showcase in style.
• It was later determined that it was too
  innovational for the time.
• Stein first triumph was his securing of the order
  for a casket to be used for the funeral of James
  Gordon Bennettproprietor and editor of the New
  York Herald. (pg. 174)

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• Stein merged with National Casket Co. in 1890 and
  they made 600 cloth covered caskets a week.
• His second triumph was his display at the
  Philadelphia Centennial in 1876. His permission
  to show his caskets was revoked and he built a
  building finishing only hours before the
  Exposition opened.

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• This success put Stein Manufacturing Company on
  the map and
• Reinforced the fashion of placing coffins and
  caskets on display in coffin shops and in
  undertaking establishments where such receptacles
  were.

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• His third milestone was the order received for
  the Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant.
• In 1855 Stein made the casket for President
  Grant. It was called the Style E State Casket

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• Made with the finest black broadcloth, heavy
  silver metal mountings, flat top, with full
  French plate glass. Its inner metallic case was
  especially finished on the interior and set off
  by a pillow on which the Generals initials were
  embroidered. The result, claimed by a company
  brochure, was a real triumph.

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Also rans

• The 3 types of burial receptacles commonly used
  during the 19th century were
• the metallic mummy case
• the cloth-covered metal reinforced burial case
• the traditional wooden coffin
• All were gradually modified in an effort to
  improve their appearances.
• Many other receptacles were dreamed up, but never
  gained popular acceptanceThe Also Rans.

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Also Rans

• Two influences were at cross purposes in the
  experimentation of the The Also Rans
• Potential market for more artistic or more
  serviceable funeral recepticle.
• Second was the hard facts of production and
  distribution. Many of the inventors and the
  innovators never managed to get their proposals
  beyond the idea stage.
• Money, Patents, Limited Manufacturing Ability

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• The also rans were
• terra cotta
• wood and cement
• glass and iron
• cross shaped
• The designs were box like, long and narrow, and
  octagon

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Also Rans

• Terra Cotta Coffin, 1855
• David Sholl, 1855
• Composed of Terra Cotta or pottery ware
• Lighter than the earlier cement types

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Also Rans

• Wood and Cement, 1839
• William H. Bachtel of Canton, Ohio
• An Intermediate step between the cement coffin
  and its eventual form as a burial vault
• Became to heavy to transport efficiently

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Also Rans

• Coffin of Glass Plates and Iron Bands, 1859
• John R. Cannon of New Albany, Indiana.
• Long and narrow, hexagonal, with all sides made
  in sections of glass.
• Cement was used to keep unit air tight with iron
  bands to hold the lid secure.
• Removed a portion of the air inside. Thought to
  make the body look more life-like.

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Also Rans

• Glass Coffin, Air Tight, with Rib-Flange, 1860
• George W. Scollay of St. Louis, Missouri
• More along rectangle casket lines
• Not to be filled with poisonous liquor to
  destroy the animalcula, but remove the air for
  same effect

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Also Rans

• Showcase-cakset
• Samuel Stein, about 1870
• Built to display the body in its physical
  entirety
• To enhance the handsome setting part of which was
  comprised by the casket

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Also Rans

• Cruciform or Cross-shaped Casket
• Oswego Cruciform Casket Co. Oswego, N.Y., 1877
• Shaped like the crucifix
• Marketed to the Christian minded
• the Common Sense Casket

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Life Signals

• Purpose- fear of live burial and grave robbers.
• What were the grave robbers nicknamed?
• Resurrectionists (body snatchers)
• They stole bodies from graves to sell to
  anatomists

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Life Signals

• Christian Eisenbrandt, Baltimore, MD, 1843
• A new and useful improvements to coffins
• Life preserving coffins in case of doubtful death
• Designed with wires and pins and a spring lid to
  enable the occupant of the coffin, by the
  slightest movement of the hand or head to have
  the coffin lid spring open.
• How would that work if it were buried?

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Life Signals
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Life Signals

• The next life preserving coffins were designed to
  operate after burial.
• Franz Vester of Newark, NJ
• Square tube, containing a ladder and a cord, one
  end of which was to be placed in the hand of the
  person laid in the coffin, while the other
  extended up to a bell on the top of the tube
  which was attached to the head end of the coffin

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Life Signals
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Life Signals

• Theodore Schroeder and Herman Wuest of Hoboken,
  NJ in 1871
• A narrow round tube , similar to a speaking tube,
  attached to the head end of the coffin in such a
  manner that a rope within might be pulled by the
  buried person, releasing an air opening in the
  mouth of the tube and simultaneously setting off
  an electrical alarm.

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Life Signals
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Life Signals

• Albert Fearnaught, Indianapolis, Indiana in 1882
• Contraption that released a flag through the end
  of a tube which projected up from the foot of the
  grave, if its occupant were to move a hand.

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Life Signals
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Life Signals

• John Krichbaum of Youngstown, Ohio in 1882
• Consisted of pipes, bars, tubes and cross-pins,
  which would upon movement of the hands of
  persons buried in a trance, open an air vent
  and at the same time give indication that there
  was life in the coffin below.

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Life Signals
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Life Signals

• Another creation of the inventive mind applied to
  the problem of protecting the graves from the
  ressurectionists-
• The coffin Torpedo-a device, made of iron, about
  an inch in diameter and six inches long,
  contained a charge of explosive and a mechanism
  set to go off with the tampering of any coffin
  which had properly been prepared.
• What other problems would have been brought about
  by the torpedo?

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Burial Vaults and Outside Boxes

• The idea started from the desire of permanent
  protection of the body from ghouls and the
  elements.
• Original material used during the 19th century
  were grave liners of rock, stone, and brick.
  Later concrete slabs were used in sectionals
  sealed with sand-cement mortar.
• The were called burial safes and mort-safes.

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• The concrete vault as we know it today was not
  common until after 1900.
• During 1900-1920 the number of vault patents
  granted were the greatest in history.
• People started wanting protection for the casket
  because it was so beautiful.

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• The terminology starting in the late 1840s was
• mummy-case
• burial-case
• coffin-case
• casket-burial case
• grave vault (1870s)

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• George Boyd made the metal grave vault which is
  used today in the same form and function.
• He developed the burglar proof vault unknowingly
  however, the principal of the vault was the air
  seal. Thus the Boyd vault was originally made to
  sell for protection against grave robbing, but
  developed into the present air sealed burial
  vault.

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• The Champion Company and the Springfield Metallic
  Casket Company made most of the vaults in the
  1890s.
• By 1915, 5 to 10 of all funerals included a
  vault, nearly all metal.
• They became used for protection of the casket and
  the remains.

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Furnished Outside Boxes

• The Stein Manufacturing Company made boxes of
  cedar, chestnut, oak, and mahogany.
• They were 25 to 23 for adult sizes.
• What is another reason that we use vaults today?

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Outer Burial Containers/Vaults
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Outer Burial Containers/Vaults

• Protection of
• Casket
• Remains
• Protect
• Continuity of
• Grave