Funeral Transportation

Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral Train1865

Readings Question #1(Page 234) (Plate 50B)

• What are the French and Latin origins for the word hearse? Describe the first hearse.

Early Methods

• bier (bear): “forerunner of today’s hearse; a hand stretcher on which the uncoffined body was carried to the grave”

• horse-drawn carts: 1648 “hearse on wheels”

Colonial Hearses

• Page 235• wagon• horse-drawn hearses• “Gentleman’s Coaches”• “liverymen”• 1787: American funeral hearses (Plate 50C)• early pioneer: simple (Plate 51A)

Hearses with Horses1850 - 1910

• Page 237• Civil War (1861): impact on style of hearses• styles of hearse would change every 15 yrs.• “wear and tear” significant• Readings Question #2: (Page 240)• Compare and contrast the hearse of the

1850’s with the hearse used during the Civil War. (Plate 51B and 51C)

President Lincoln’s Funeral Car1865

Funeral Car Innovators(Page 241)

• James Cunningham: (Plates 51D & 52)- rectangular ,“four-poster”- “hip” roof- 5 urns- gilded column at each corner

1884: “hearse” outdated, instead “funeral car”

Funeral Car Innovators(Page 241)

• Hudson Samson: 1889– 8 column, oval-decked funeral car– similar style with 6 columns– 1898: all funeral directors had “8 column” model– 1898: funeral car with carved drapery over the

entire car body (resembling a pall) (Plate 52A)– became dominant style within 10 years

Funeral Car Innovators (Page 241)

• Crane and Breed:– 1893: Chicago World’s Fair (Plate 54)– large with church-like design– massive carvings and gildings with gold lamps– weighed 2400 pounds– drawn by 8 horses– not intended for use in America– used for funeral of Chicago’s assassinated mayor

Carter H. Harrison (right after the Chicago Fair)

Gas and Electric Vehicles(Page 244)

• 1885: Baltimore- electric street railway

Readings Question #3:Describe the first trolley funeral car.

“a specially designed train car run on a city’s trolley line to transport casket and mourners to cemeteries on the outskirts of the city”

Gasoline-powered Hearses

• Page 245• Fred Hulberg: 1908 NYC (Plate 55)

• Page 246• Crane and Breed Manufacturing Company:

1909 “auto-hearse” (Plate 56 A & B)

Other Funeral Vehicles

• Ambulance: 1909 (Page 245) (Plate 56D)• Undertaker’s Buggy: “vehicle used by

undertakers to transport the necessary mortuary paraphernalia to the homes where funerals were typically held….had an appearance similar to a hearse, but were much less ornate” (Plate 56C)

• Limousine: early 1920’s (Plate 58A)

Hearse Sizes and Colors(Page 252)

• up to Civil War: black• after the war increase in length and width• children: white• larger funeral cars: darker colors• most popular: black• light-grey: carved hearses• World War I: black then grey

Cadillac Hearses

1930

1938

National Coach

1957

Transportation of Flowers(Page 255)

• regular hearses equipped with special trays or receptacles

• first flower cars: 7 passenger touring cars

• emergence of vans and other converted vehicles

Readings Question #4

• How did the evolution of funeral transportation influence the responsibilities of the funeral director?

Lincoln’sFuneralProcession

Future Transportation?????