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Early Burial History
The document was published originally within the book "A History of the Community of Botany" Written by Mrs Wm J Dunlop nee Katherine McBrayne 1866 - 1963. It was originally published as a series in the Ridgetown Dominion in 1963 and 1964. It was developed as a publishing project of the Kent Branch and transcribed by Nancy Cameron. Computer direction and supervision by Leslie Mancell and John Claus. Computer Manipulation by Bill Claus. With index by Leslie Mancell.
It was published by the Kent Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society in December of 1992.
This record is available by the Kent Branch of the OGS and can be digital ordered through their website at http://www.ogs.on.ca/kent/
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Please note that We, at C-K Cemeteries, VERY highly recommend this book for it's interesting historical content. The following is a very tiny portion of the historical material available there.
When death came to the homes of the pioneers, there was no undertaker to take charge and often no minister to come with words of comfort. The friends and neighbours came to do what they could in their simple way.
The body of the departed would be washed and laid out on a wide board, until the coffin could be made. This was always home made and usually made of walnut by a carpenter or any handy man in the neighbourhood. It was very plain without ornaments of any kind and having no handles. When the coffin was ready, the body was dressed in a white "Shroud" and placed in the coffin (which was very simply lined) and covered with a white cloth. The face was covered with a piece of white muslin cloth which was kept very moist with spirits of camphor, this cloth being removed only when any person wished to view the remains.
No doubt you have often heard the remark, "The meanest man in the world is the one who steals the money off a dead man's eyes". This saying originated many years ago as it was customary when a person died and was "laid out" a silver quarter or 25 cent piece was placed on the eyes of the corpse to keep them closed. It is said that sometimes this money was stolen. Therefore, the above quotation originated.
Everything was very silent, people speaking only in whispers if at all.
At such times the women were busy, especially any one who could sew as the mourning clothes had to be prepared. The sewing would be continued all day and through the night if necessary in order to have everything in readiness for the funeral. There was a band or bow of black crepe to be put on the men's hats and also a band of crepe on one sleeve of the men's coats.
It was also a busy time preparing the midnight lunch for the many who would go to the bereaved home. The majority of them would remain until after lunch. They would take their departure when two or three friends would remain with the bereaved family until morning.
At the appointed time for the funeral a solemn procession would wend its way to the burying plot which in most cases in those early days would be upon the homestead as there were no public burying grounds. At that time there were no hearses to carry the dead to their last resting place. Therefore the coffins were carried together with the bier, a frame on which the coffin was carried, on the shoulders of six men who had been chosen as pall bearers for the occasion, sometimes for quite long distances over the rough trails. If a minister could be obtained, the friends were very thankful. If this was impossible the last sad rites would be performed sometimes in perfect silence or sometimes only a short prayer would be offered by a friend or perhaps by one of the family of the departed. Then the coffin would be lowered in the grave after which the men took part in filling in the grave. Then they wended their way homeward, leaving the body of their friend and neighbour in His keeping until the Resurrection morning.
It might just be mentioned here that in later years, when the caskets were no longer home made, they had handles for the convenience of carrying. They had silver plates on which was engraved the name and age of the deceased. Before burial these name plates would be removed and left with the friends in the home as a memorial. Very often they would be framed. It was quite customary to see those memorials hanging on the parlour walls but this custom has long since been abandoned. I wonder if any of these could be found today.
Years later the public cemeteries were used and many of those bodies were removed to those public places.
Please note Historian Jim Gilbert notes that the small silver plates mentioned above actually served another purpose. In winter often caskets were not buried immediately but were stored in Mortuaries until the ground thawed. ( See St Anthony's History in the Chatham Cemeteries section for further explanation on how this was done.) Since there might be many coffins stored in a very small area it was important to keep straight the names of who was who, so the silver plates served to do exactly that. Such was their real purpose!)
In Stepping Back in Time it is noted that coffins were often made of white pine because of the wood's tendency to resist rotting for a fairly long time. This disagrees with the information above, but this may be due to certain types of wood being more available in certain areas.