The Stamford Historical Society Presents
Stamford's
Civil War: At Home and in the Field
a 2003 Exhibit and more
The
Civil War changed funeral customs
The exhibit
displays the Account Book of Lyman Hoyt, General Household Merchandise and Undertaking.
In urban
communities at the time of the Civil War, customs and requirements regarding
removal, preparation, and burial of the dead began to change. Formerly, funerals
were handled by family, close friends, or fraternal associates. Advances
in embalming utilizing formaldehyde and rail transportation facilitated the
shipment of both mortuary supplies and bodies. The significant rise in deaths
due to disease and war casualties expedited the emergence of a profession
known as undertakers. Most proprietors of these establishments combined undertaking
with selling of household goods, furniture, china, upholstery, and chair
rentals.
Included
in the entries of the account book is one dated 4
November 1863, made out to Mrs. Frederick Peck. These are the funerary service
expenses for her son Theodore H. Peck. He served as a private
in Company A, 28th
Regiment
Connecticut
volunteers. Stricken with fever during the campaign on the Mississippi River,
he somehow managed to return home. After lingering illness he died at the
age of twenty-seven years. Thus it obliged his widowed mother to make the
arrangements.
Editor's
Note:
from Lyman
Hoyt's Son & Co. as of 1892 it seems that Lyman Hoyt
was
in the undertaking business as early as 1837.
