Early American Funeral Undertaking

Question 1

Funeral Directing as a specific occupation sprang forth after this

Answer 1

The Civil War

Question 2

Prior to the Civil War, the term was what?

Answer 2

Funeral Undertaking

Question 3

Funeral Undertaking encompassed what?

Answer 3

other tradesmen and their efforts

Question 4

Funeral Directing concepts include

Answer 4

A specific set of tasks for the case and disposal of the dead
A business enterprise taking on professionalism by offering personal specialized service

Question 5

Funeral Directing is a specific set of tasks for the

Answer 5

case and disposal of the dead

Question 6

Funeral Directing is a business enterprise taking of professionalism by offering

Answer 6

personal specialized service

Question 7

Name the three craftsmen who entered the field of undertaking in colonial America

Answer 7

Cabinet Makers
Protestant Church Sexton
Liveryman trade

Question 8

These were the upholsterer’s trade, the coffin makers

Answer 8

Cabinet makers

Question 9

These directed the burial and kept records

Answer 9

Protestant church sexton

Question 10

The renters of hacks and carriages

Answer 10

Liveryman trade

Question 11

Who were the most likely of the craftsmen to get into funeral service

Answer 11

Cabinet maker and sexton

Question 12

The basic undertaking functions in colonial America was accomplished by whom?

Answer 12

Neighbors, relatives, clergy, craftsmen, doctors, nurses, or the family

Question 13

Earlier performers of the personal service that indirectly involved funeral services between 1700 and 1820 were

Answer 13

Nurses and Midwives

Question 14

Nurses and midwives advertised their services as

Answer 14

Layers out of the dead

Question 15

The role of the female in early American funeralization included

Answer 15

Washing, dressing, and placing the deceased in state on a slumber couch

Question 16

Religious functionaries in funeral service, specifically the role of the Protestant church sexton,

Answer 16

Tolling of the bell
Digging graves
Directing the funeral processions
Laying out of the body
Attending to families
Furnishing merchandise and paraphernalia
Record keeping

Question 17

Why was the sexton undertaker the most powerful of the three trades to enter funeral services?

Answer 17

He took charge of services once inside the cemetery
He controlled the cemetery and church policy as they related to rules, regulations, fees, statements of birth and death, scheduling funeral times, etc

Question 18

Who took the sextons to court and won, ending the sexton monopoly

Answer 18

William Ensign

Question 19

A licensed position in the colonies

Answer 19

Inviter to funerals

Question 20

Paid by local government to be sure all were properly buried

Answer 20

Inviter to funerals

Question 21

The forerunner of the coroner

Answer 21

Inviter to funerals

Question 22

Developed between 1750 and 1800 and became entrenched in municipal government by the war of 1812

Answer 22

Town undertaker

Question 23

A definite advantage for an undertaker to hold a public office in the health field as coroner prior to the Civil War

Answer 23

Town Undertaker

Question 24

Conflict of interest had not really been established in lass, making this position possible

Answer 24

Town Undertaker

Question 25

A cabinet maker-undertaker from Baltimore, appointed coroner in 1799

Answer 25

Michael Jenkins

Question 26

By the Civil War, undertaking has taken on the characteristics of this

Answer 26

A service occupation

Question 27

As a service occupation by the Civil War, undertaking took on a specific set of tasks and functions organized into

Answer 27

a pattern of behavior toward the dead

Question 28

Tasks and functions carried out by the undertaker after the Civil War include

Answer 28

Placing the deceased in state (ice trays)
Coffining
Transporting the body to the grave
Furnishing funeral paraphernalia
Paper work filed with Sextons

Question 29

When does the furnishing undertaker appear?

Answer 29

Just prior to the Civil War

Question 30

The furnishing undertaker appears just prior to the civil was as a

Answer 30

wholesaler who supplied coffins and other funeral paraphernalia

Question 31

What was the origin of the Funeral Supplier and Manufacturer?

Answer 31

Furnishing Undertaker

Question 32

The furnishing undertaker encouraged others to enter funeral service who were not

Answer 32

cabinet makers, sextons, or liverymen

Question 33

The cabinet maker still held the economic advantage. Why?

Answer 33

He could cut out the middleman, the furnishing undertaker, by making his own coffins

Question 34

After the Civil War, the furnishing undertaker encouraged this

Answer 34

Professionalism in funeral service

Question 35

How did the furnishing undertaker encourage professionalism in funeral service?

Answer 35

By encouraging undertakers to devote full time personal service to bereaved families, freeing them from obligations to craft or trade

Question 36

After the civil war, what happened to the cabinet maker?

Answer 36

He could no longer compete against the mass production of the furnishing undertaker

Question 37

Prior to 1840, what kind of burial receptacle was used?

Answer 37

Traditional wooden coffin handcrafted in a cabinet shop

Question 38

From 1840-1870, what kind of burial receptacle was used?

Answer 38

Mass produced metallic Fisk mummy case

Question 39

From 1870-1900, what kind of burial receptacle was used?

Answer 39

Cloth covered wood and metal coffins mass produced by the furnishing undertakers