110 YearsAfter checking the
funerals in our county for the past 110 years, I have decided that four families
of undertakers handled sixty or seventy percent of Calhoun funerals, where the
help of persons outside the family were needed.
The four families named
on the cover were Imming, Fisher, Rose, and Hanks. At the end of the story of
the work done by these families, I will list many other undertakers who worked
in small areas, from two to ten years. Another section will be devoted to
customes and funerals in Calhoun County many years ago.
April 7, 1875 was an important date in the Village of Brussels. A letter arrived
from Washington, D. C. saying a post-office would be opened that day in Brussels
and Henry Imming, manager of the general store and undertaker would be in charge
of the office. His business place on Main Street, which is still standing today,
was chosen as location for the new post-office.
While we do not have a
record of his early funerals, we find a listing in the county records in his
name on June 23, 1878, when he buried Catherine Andrews, 84, the mother of Dr.
R. S. Andrews, in the Ebenezer M. E. Church Cemetery, a few miles west of
Brussels. Henry, who passed away in 1901 handled many funerals in the eighties
and nineties.
In the early 1900's, we find two of his sons, Herman, Sr.
and John taking care of many funeral sin South Calhoun. At some funerals they
worked together, while at other times they worked alone. In one period, Herman
had 31 funerals while John had 17.
In the yar 1917, the next member to
enter the funeral business was Herman Imming, Jr., known to everyone as "Mike."
He was well known in the county having been a catcher on the Brussels baseball
team, one of the outstanding teams in our area. He was married August 17, 1921
to Cecelia Brinkman by Father S. C. Schauwecker in St. Joseph's Church in
Meppen.
Their home on Main Street in Brussels was altered several times
so it could be used for showing bodies or even having funerals. At first, he
used a horse drawn hearse, but in the late 1920's, he bought a motor driven
hearse. His grandson, Joe Rose, in checking the old family records, said the
average funeral cost less than $200. Many of the funeral bulls were paid in
produce, grain, livestock, or even labor. Joe also checked the location of
cemeteries in the 1946-1963 period where Mike handled the funerals. They were
St. Mary's, Brussels, 60; St. Joseph's, Meppen, 28; St. Matthew's, Brussels, 22;
St. Barbara's, Batchtown, 8; Deer Plain, 6; Seidler, 3; Wilson, 4; and many
family or private cemeteries.
Mike's popularity in Calhoun was shown in
the Democratic primary election of 1932, when he was a Candidate for County
Coroner. While he had two well-known opponents, he received 176 votes in
Richwoods Precinct, while the combined vote of opponents was 65. In his home
precinct, Point, he had 396 votes to 46 for his two opponents. In 1963, he
retired and sold his business to Hanks. When he died, his friend Paul Hanks took
care of the funeral.
From the mid-1870's to the present is a long time,
ninety years to be exact. During his time, the members of the Imming family were
serving the families of South Calhoun.
Many people in the
Hardin area in speaking of the Fisher family do not realize that two men were
undertakers. Morris, Sr. served the community from 1866 until his death in 1896.
He was succeeded by his son, Morris, Jr., who handled the business until his
retirement in 1912. In the 46 years, they handled most of the funeral sin
Central Calhoun.
Morris Fisher, Sr., was born and remained in Germany
until the age of 15 when he joined relatives and friends in the East. He
followed the trade of carpenter and builder until 1866 when he arrived in
Hardin. Soon after his arrival, he started building houses and store buildings
just a block south of the Calhoun Courthouse. One of the structures was a large
two story building which he used as a store and undertaking establishment. One
of the first funerals in the County records was January 3, 1878, when he buried
Mary A. Mortland, 71, in the Hardin Cemetery.
When the building was
destroyed by fire in March of 1885, he erected a larger two story building which
is still standing in 1987. The Masonic Lodge rented the large upstairs as their
meeting place until they erected their new hall across the street. He was the
leading undertaker in Calhoun until his tragic death in the St. Louis cyclone of
1896.
During the last week of May, 1896, Morris Fisher, Sr. went to St.
Louis to buy supplies for his store and undertaking business. Another Hardin
business man, Mort Parker, went to the city of the same purpose, while a
housewife, Mrs. Alford Godar, went to visit friends and relatives.
It was
five minutes to five on Wednesday afternoon, May 27, 1896, a fierce tornado, or
cyclone as it was called in those days, hit the levee district where dozens of
packet boats were loading and made ready to leave. Our Hardin citizens were on
the Steamer Odil ready to leave for a trip up the Mississippi and Illinois
River, including a stop at Hardin. The Odil was torn loose from the wharf and
crashed against the Eads Bridge and completely destroyed. Parker jumped from the
boat into the stream and was saved. Fisher and Mrs. Godar were among the dozens
of passengers who were drowned. It wasn't until four days later that the bodies
of the Hardin residents were found many miles below St. Louis.
When there
were no identification papers on Fisher's body, Monroe County Coroner took the
body to Columbia, the County Seat, for burial. When word reached Hardin of the
finding of a body, Morris Fisher, Jr. and Jim Linkogle went to Columbia where
the body was disinterred and identified as Morris Fisher, Sr. The body was taken
to Hardin for services and burial, and the undertaking business was placed with
Morris, Jr., a young man of 28. We do not know if he had been associated with
his father before 1896, but we note that he retired 18 years later at the age of
46.
It wasn't until ten weeks after his father's death that Morris
conducted his first funeral, August 8, 1896, the burial of Rebecca Scott, 61, a
native of the Hardin area. About eleven years later, October 16, 1907, a tragic
accident took place in which four men were drowned in a boating accident five
miles south of Hardin. An inquest was held by County Coroner, A. B. Lowe, of
Batchtown, and the bodies were given to Fisher for burial. The first funeral was
that of Harvey Angel, 32, who was buried in the Hardin Cemetery. The next day
services were held for Jeff Hunt, 27, while the other two men were buried the
third day. In the morning, service were held for Gideon Bazillion, 41, who was
buried in Hardin, while John Lammy, 36, was buried at Indian Creek in the
afternoon. It is possible that there is no one living in Calhoun who remembers
attending these four funerals.
His last funeral was conducted at the time
of much excitement in the area; the murder of a young woman at a Michael farm
home, May 1, 1912. The woman, Pauline Fulton, from another county, had been a
guest at a home in Michael Hollow. As she was playing a piano in the parlor, a
jealous boyfriend shot through the window killing her. The man was soon in jail
and the body was taken to the Fisher establishment in Hardin. She was buried the
next day in the cemetery in Michael. According to our record books, this was his
last funeral service. All of his supplies and equipment were then turned over to
his friend, John Rose, of Kampsville.
Most people around Hardin remember
Morris, Jr. when he was a partner with his sister, Mrs. Jennie Carter in the
Fisher Store. She operated the women's and children's department with the aid of
her daughters, Nina and Cuba. Morris was helped in the grocer and hardware
department by Art Williams. He seldom left his home except on Sundays to attend
services at the Presbyterian Church, where he was a member. He passed away in
1940 and is buried in the Hardin Cemetery.
Before 1896, Mr. Fisher, Sr.
made many of the caskets used in his business. However, when a family wanted a
more expensive casket, one was ordered from a St. Louis Company, the same as is
done today. More than 50 years after his death, and after Fisher-Rose was out of
business, an old storage building was torn down. In an attic room was found
fifteen or twenty old caskets made by the Fisher family. While they would bring
high prices today from antique dealers, they were hauled to a dump and burned.
One of the best known Calhoun undertakers in the 1900-1930
period was John Rose of Kampsville. As a young man, he taught school at
Columbiana and Gilead, and then decided to join his father, Thomas A. Rose, one
of the communities' busiest men. He operated a general store, handled the
undertaking business, and was agent and warehouse operator for the Eagle Packet
Co. We do not know when John went into business for himself, but his name
appears with m any Kampsville funerals listed in County records after 1900. One
record tells of his handling the funeral of his brother, Charles Rose,
Kampsville policeman, who was killed in 1910. One May 1, 1912, Morris Fisher
sold his business and equipment to John Rose, which meant that Rose would be
conducting most of the funerals in Hardin, Gilead, Hamburg, Michael, and
Kampsville, until his death in 1934.
In some cases, he went to the homes
to prepare the bodies for burial, but other times it was taken to the buildings
in Hardin or Kampsville where caskets and other equipment were kept. His
daughter, Minnie Baumgartner of St. Charles, Missouri, recalls her father
working on caskets, lining them with a pink and shirred satin and wide black
lace. She also remembers the large black horses with fancy black harness and the
large black hearse. Many older people may remember this ornate hearse with the
high driver's seat in front and highly polished brass lamps on each side.
Occasionally, when the roads were in bad condition, a second team was attached
to the hearse.
Another incident remembered by Minnie was when the flu
epidemic broke out during World War I, and thousands of service men died in the
Army camps. A body was shipped to Kampsville for burial and it was supposed to
have been accompanied by a soldier from the camp. When the body arrived, without
the escort, it had to be buried immediately. The escort had been separated from
the body and he did not arrive in Kampsville until the day after the funeral.
Then it was found that the U. S. Flag had been buried with the casket, so it was
necessary to disinter to remove the flag. Rose, sho was provoked by the escort
getting lost on the way to Kampsville, made a remark to the escort, remembered
by many of the old timers: "You ar a H__ of a soldier. You can't even keep up
with a dead one."
Rose was interested in his profession and became one of
the first licensed embalmers in the area. His daughter remembers the many ways
John was paid for his services. Many times he came home leading livestock, while
another time he accepted a rare watch which had to be wound with a key. The
first trouble he had with his first motorized hearse, which he bought in 1923,
was getting it from Carrollton to Kampsville. The Illinois River was filled with
floating ice for weeks.
John Rose passed away in 1934, four days after
conducting a funeral. He is buried in the Summit Grove Cemetery with many
members of the Rose Family.
It wasn't until September of
1945 that I attended a funeral where arrangements were handled by C. C. and Paul
B. Hanks. It was a funeral of my friend, Arthur Buchanan, of Hardin. The body
was kept at the home in North Hardin, while services and burial was at Indian
Creek. The funeral sermon was given by C. C. Hanks, at request of his longtime
friend, Art Buchanan.
It was June 12, 1913 that Clifford C. Hanks became
a funeral director and opened his business in Pearl, Illinois. After he had
completed a course of study in Chicago, at the Barnes Institute of Sanitary
Science and Embalming in 1912, he purchased the funeral business of Mr. Roy
Gant. The first hearse owned by Mr. Hanks was black, highly carved with carbide
lights on each side for night driving. It was drawn by horses and kept until the
late 1920's when it was given to a neighbor who had helped the family in many
ways.
In 19243, a Model T Ford hearse was purchased. A chassis was bought
and the ornately carved gray body placed on the chassis. Paul remembers that
about half the time they couldn't start the motor. Many Pearl residents have
said the vehicle was pushed more miles than it was driven under its own power.
A Chevrolet chassis with a gear shift was bought in 1926, but the body of
the old hearse was kept and mounted on the Chevrolet chassis. In 1929, Richard
Harmon of Pleasant Hill and C. C. Hanks purchased Miller Motor Hearse with a
Hudson Motor. Frank Ward of Pleasant Hill, a successor t Harmon in the funeral
business has had several columns in the Pleasant Hill Messenger about the
hearse. In one article, he said: "Mr. Harmon did not wish to give ambulance
service, and as Hanks gave this service, the hearse was usually kept a Pearl.
The tow directors arranged the hours for each funeral so as not to interfere
with each other. The plan usually worked, but at times when Harmon needed the
hearse, it was at Pearl. Then someone (usually me) drove my Model T over to
Hanks to get the ambulance, and then return it after the funeral." When Paul
read the article, he said he was the one who drove the hearse many times between
the two towns. In the late 1930's, both Harmon and Hanks purchased a new Packard
Hearse for their business.
A custom carried on by the Hanks family in the
early days was the lining of graves with muslin or cheesecloth material dyed in
color. Mrs. Hanks would dye bolts of cloth in an old iron kettle. When a family
desired this service, the material would be placed on the sides of the grave at
an extra charge of seventy-five cents. We understand that the person who went
into the grave and placed the cloth on the sides with large headed roofing nails
was young Paul Hanks. This was his introduction to the funeral business.
A number of years later, Mr. Hanks purchased the funeral business in Kampsville
that had been operated by the Simpson Funeral Home of Carrollton. At first they
rented rooms in the Armstrong property for visitation purposes. After several
years the Hanks purchased the property, but when no longer in use, the house was
sold to Northwestern University.
In January of 1940, C. C. Hanks
purchased the funeral business in Hardin from Kenneth Sidwell. Rooms were rented
on the ground floor of what was previously the Bailey Hotel. This was located on
the southeast corner of Park and Main Streets. After a short time, the funeral
home was moved to a house owned by Andrew Campbell, at the corner of Park and
Franklin Streets.
In December of 1946, Paul B. Hanks, son of C. C. Hanks,
having been separated from ilitary service, completed a course of study at the
St. Louis College of Mortuary Science. He became fully licensed as an embalmer
and funeral director.
In January of 1947, the residence of Mrs. Zita
Schrieber, located at the corner of South County Road and Childs, was purchased.
Extensive remodeling was done, and in June of that year, a modern funeral home
was completed and opened for business. This was the first such facility for
Calhoun County, and since it was opened very few people have been returned to
their residences for visitation.
In 1948, Paul Hanks became part owner in
the Hanks firm, and he and Mrs. Hanks, the former Loretta Mack of Carlinville,
resided in the apartment adjoining the funeral home in Hardin. In 1951, Paul was
called back into service during the Korean Conflict. Loyal and Virginia
Linthicum then joined the Hanks firm, Loyal being a licensed embalmer and
funeral director. The Linthicums stayed with the firm until 1961. Marquis and
Betty Berrey, formerly of Batchtown, then joined the firm and are employed to
this date. One July 4, 1986, the Berreys completed 25 years with the Hanks firm.
The H. A. Imming family of Brussels served the South County area for funeral
needs. The Moenning family of Meppen had at one time kept a supply of caskets,
serving the Meppen community. In 1964, Mr. Imming was in poor health and decided
to retire from the funeral business. The Hanks firm purchased his business. Mr.
Imming had operated his business in his residence. A new chapel was constructed
at the south edge of Brussels, and this new facility has been much appreciated
by the residents of South Calhoun. Mr. C. C. Hanks died March 26, 1966.
In July of 1985, the Hanks business was purchased on a long-term agreement, by
Richard and Helen Gubser of Jerseyville. The Bubser name has been familiar in
the funeral business in this area for many decades. Paul and Loretta Hanks are
still very much active in the business. Extensive remodeling of the Hardin
facility was completed in January, 1987. The traditional funeral service so long
provided by the Hanks family will continue to serve the residents of Calhoun,
South Pike and neighboring areas. Since 1913, thousands of people have been
served by the Hanks establishments. Phil Gress, a licensed embalmer and funeral
director joined the firm in 1985.
While much
time has been spent telling of the four families that handled most of the
Calhoun funerals, there were other undertakers who spent a number of years in
different areas of the County.
In South Calhoun, we find Anton and Casper
Cappel, Henry Fortschneider. Some books mention Conrad and Charles Wittmond and
Herman Stahl, but they were casket salesmen and did not go to homes to prepare
the bodies or to the cemeteries for services. In the Meppen area, we find Martin
Hazelhorst, Sr. and Herman Grille, while at Batchtown, the men who worked as
undertakers were H. Dorworth, John Earley, Ellis Inman, Peter Sagez and a Mr.
Morton. It should be mentioned that Mr. Moennig made dozens of caskets at his
workshop for people in the community.
In the early days in Hardin, Ed
Athy and Norvell Ruyle of Hamburg handled many of the funerals. In the
Kampsville neighborhood there are mentioned in early records, F. Mosler, August
Dickerman, and a Mr. Oberjohn. In the early 1930's two popular undertakers were
John Sutter of Kampsville and Kenneth Sidwell of Hardin. Sutter sold to Simpsons
and purchased the Eddy Funeral Home in Pittsfield. Sidwell sold to Hanks and
moved to Arizona for his health.
This is a period that our county records give little information about
deaths and burials. The cemetery and church records are either incomplete or
unavailable, but we are sure that most of the work was done by relatives and
friends and few undertakers were available.
Recently a fine book was
written by Mrs. Velma Vanausdoll of Shipman, and a native of the Apple Creek
region of Greene County. One section of the book was called: "Death, Customs,
and Funerals." Her story fits Calhoun County so well that I asked permission to
reprint some of the paragraphs in this book. Permission was granted and here is
Mrs. Vanausdoll's story.
"Yesterday's
gone, and today's manners, morals, and customs are those of a new world.
When this century was young, people in rural areas did not go to hospitals. If
one broke a leg, the country doctor came to his home, set the broken bone, and
told him to stay off it a couple of weeks. If one had appendicitis, there was a
good chance the operation would be done on his own kitchen table, and if one was
sick for weeks, or even months, the neighbors came in and brought prepared
foods, and stayed to help with the cooking and housework, and sit up nights with
the sick or dying, and neighbor men took care of the outdoor chores. That sounds
as though the men did not help inside, but they did. There were nearly always
two or three men to sit up, especially with the dying.
As soon as death
came, someone (in my memory, my mother) was called on to lay out the corpse. She
washed the body and dressed it in the funeral clothes, combed the hair, tied up
the lower jaw, and put pennies on the eyelids and folded the hands neatly.
Embalming was not required by law, and undertakers were seldom brought in.
While this was being done, the sexton of the local church was tolling the
death knell – a slow tapping of the church bell – one beat for each year of life
of the deceased.
Black crepe was tied to the doorknobs, and a large black
wreath tied with a black crepe bow was fastened to the outside of the front
door. Any portraits of the deceased were draped with black crepe for 30 days,
and sometimes the crepe was never removed. A veil of black crepe was put over
each hive if bees were kept. It was believed that the bees left if they were not
told when there was a death in the house.
Someone might go to town and
buy a coffin, or the men either of the family of the neighborhood might build
one, and the family went into mourning garb. All the women wore unrelieved
black, and a widow wore a long heavy black veil (no wonder they often fainted
before the funeral was finally over). The men work black armbands, and everyone
in the family had a handkerchief with about a half-inch black border. Friends
and relatives at a distance were notified of the death on black-bordered
stationery, and for several months the family used the mourning stationery for
any necessary communications.
The corpse was laid out in a cool room,
usually the family parlor, sometimes a spare bedroom, and friends and neighbors
came in to share the death watch. Often what I felt should have been quiet
respect for the dead and the bereaved took on more the aspect of a small party
or a family reunion, but at least the friendly support was there until the
funeral.
Funeral services were held in the home more often ant in the
church, and a "funeral parlor" was unknown. The music was songs and hymns sung
by the assemblage, usually without instrumental accompaniment.
The
hearse wasn't much like the ones we see today. Of course it was horse-drawn – a
huge black box with crepe-draped sides (only the most expensive had glass
sides), and a fringed top. The horses had black pompoms or plumes on the hames,
and black crepe or feathers on the temples.
All six pallbearers actually
carried the coffin out and put it into the hearse, and at the cemetery, carried
it to the graveside and helped the grave digger lower it and six or more flower
girls actually carried flowers (many of them handmade wreaths and sprays from
the gardens of the donors), and after the grave was filled, the flower girls
gave the final tribute when they placed the flowers on the grave."
Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was once known, has always been a time to
visit the graves of loved ones. Flowers are usually placed on the graves, and
the cemeteries look beautiful. The advent of the power mower and artificial
flowers has completely changed the looks of cemeteries. The old custom of having
a "cemetery cleaning" prior to Memorial Day is almost a thing of the past. Not
so once, when survivors and neighbors would assemble with sickles and scissors
to mow and clean the cemetery. Naturally, a picnic lunch was always enjoyed at
the cemetery cleaning. Thanks to the powe mower most cemeteries now look like a
village lawn.
I am taking the liberty to use a fine article by Linda
Nolte telling of a death in South Calhoun.
The following are part of a series of articles written
by members of the history class of Brussels Community High School. Larry
Underwood is the history class instructor. The bits of Calhoun's history
uncovered by the students make interesting reading.
By Linda Nolte
In the olden days things were quite different as you known. One of the
biggest differences between now and yester-year was the way the dead were taken
care of. In this story, I will tell you how my great-grandfather was prepared
for the wake and how he was buried.
On May 31, 1919, Mr. Benedict Sackman
died. He had been ailing and bout 6:00 in the evening, Mr. Sackman slipped off
into a peaceful, eternal sleep.
The members of the family tried to spread
the word by the telephone, but on that particular evening the telephone wouldn't
work. The family then contacted the nearest neighbors who then told the rest of
the friends.
The wake was held the same night that he died. Since there
was no undertaker and no funeral parlor, his son, Ben, made a rough lumber box
that he was laid in for the wake which was held in his home. The box Mr. Sackman
was to be laid in was filled half full with ice that was gotten from an ice
house of Mr. Eilerman's that was along the Mississippi River. The ice was bought
in 100 pound blocks, then hauled to the house by horse and wagon. When it got to
the house the ice was chopped into small pieces to place n the box. Big tubs
were placed underneath of the box to catch the water as the ice melted. He was
kept this way for two days.
Two neighbors dug Mr. Sackman's grave. Other
neighbors shaved and dressed him in his burial clothes. Then they placed him in
his coffin.
The coffin was bought from the Samuel White Store in
Batchtown, Illinois. They were kept in the upper part of the two story
structure.
On June 2nd Mr. Sackman was hauled in a hearse, which the
county owned, to St. Barbara's Church in Bachtown, Illinois. He was buried by
Father Wardenin, who was Meppen's priest at the time, but did offer mass at St.
Barbara's Church once a month. Mr. Sackman was the last person that Father
Wardein buried before he left for another parish. After the mass, Mr. Sackman
was taken in the hearse to St. Barbara's Cemetery where he was buried. His
funeral was largely attended by friends and relatives.
Little can be added to the information given in Mrs. Vanausdoll's article
and Linda's story. In Calhoun, the term "wake" was used sometimes, but it was
usually called "sitting up." The custom is said to have started in some European
countries where the people believed in ghosts or evil spirits. The family
thought a group of men had to be present to prevent the stealing of the body. In
this country, some believed hoards of rats, cats, other animals would invade the
house and steal the corpse. In Calhoun, many homes had lighted candles in the
room where the body of the deceased was kept. The men who were sitting up would
go into the room many times during the night to inspect the candles. The men
usually sat in the kitchen where coffee and food was served several times during
the night. In Calhoun, it was a serious occasion.
Another practice in the
old days was placing articles in the casket of the deceased. In Calhoun, Mr.
Hanks remembers the placing of pictures and religious articles, canes, crutches,
tobacco, cigarettes, a wedding gown, gold chain and other jewelry as keepsakes
of the deceased. Each of four children of one family was given a gold watch at
confirmation. Many years later, as each died, the watch was placed in the
casket. The most unusual article to be place in a casket was a spade.
A
custom in some communities was to have each pallbearer wear thin white gloves.
The gloves were placed on the casket and lowered into the grave. On Saturday
morning, April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln passed away. When you visit
his home in Springfield, you will note that the clock in the parlor was stopped
at 7:22, the exact time of his death. This same custom was carried on in many
Calhoun homes. Another custom was the covering of a mirror. It is said that
anyone who looked into the mirror in the presence of the deceased would be the
next to die.
One of the greatest changes is the digging of the graves at
the cemetery. In the old days, the neighbors would dig the grave as they felt
honored to be allowed to do this service for the family. Now according to state
law, all burial must be handled by a licensed undertaker as he is the only
person that can get a burial permit from the County Clerk's office. Now the
graves are dug with a back hoe by a man who works for the undertaker. A highly
geared mechanism is used to lower the casket and vault instead of using reins of
the harness of horses.
Tents, artificial grass, heaters during cold
weather, chairs, and other conveniences are now used in our cemeteries to
comfort the families and to mask the harshness of the open grave.
Up
until the mid-1930's, it was very common for the embalming of the deceased to be
performed at the residence. Embalming, then and now, was not required, but if
that operation was not performed, burial was usually made that same day, or the
following day. The practice of removal soon became standard procedure, and
embalming is now done in funeral establishments. The education given the
present-day embalmer, and the chemicals and cosmetics available have completely
changed the embalming procedure.
Funeral directors prefer to use clothing
for burial purposes that the deceased wore during his or her lifetime. However,
most do have on hand suits, sport coats and slacks, and dresses. These are
full-cut clothes, and are of the same material as street clothes. They cannot be
compared to the Apparel once known as "shrouds." A shroud for men was composed
of a jacket front, a shirt of white paper or cardboard, and a little black tie.
The ladies' shrouds were usually black fronts with white lace collars. For both
men and women, black material was wrapped around the body from the waist down.
Caskets at that time were all of wood construction. Usually they were
covered with moleskin material, or had some form of a plush covering. The more
expensive type of covering was a high pile plush material. The casket interiors
were usually put in by hand, and a selection of linings was available. Most
caskets were white, gray or black. If the deceased was under 21 and single,
everything was white; over 21 or married, the gray or black selection was used.
The present day selection of metal caskets came into prominence when steel
was no longer needed for the "Great War" effort. A choice of one or two cloth
covered caskets is all that is usually available now.
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