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Archiver > OHCUYAHO > 2001-06 > 0991399376


From: Chris Morgan <>
Subject: [OHCUYAHO-L] Re: Obituary Information
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 05:43:12 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <200106011203.f51C3LG09758@lists5.rootsweb.com>


Marilyn, is this what you were looking for?

Sutherland, Daniel E., The Expansion of Everyday Life
1860-1876, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1989,
p. 128.

Deaths were announced in personal letters to friends,
printed funeral invitations, and public notices in
local newspapers. During most of the period,
newspaper obituaries gave few details about the life
of the deceased and said little about funeral
arrangements. Rather, they concentrated on the loved
one's preparation for death and the final days and
hours. Like a good sermon, they were intended to
provide inspirational messages for the living.
"The fatal destroyer, consumption, had been at work
for about six months," revealed a midwestern obituary
in 1866. "Having some eight years ago united with the
M.E. church, and having lived a faithful member," the
notice informed readers, "she met the change with joy.
Glad to depart from earth to be with 'Jesus'. A few
moments before dissolution took place (which was just
as the sun was sinking in the west) she entreated her
husband to prepare to meet her in Heaven...."
Obituaries for children were brief but particularly
poignant. "Horace was an only son, the darling of the
family," read one of these. "The little hat, the
vacant chair, the toys of innocent childhood are
there, but he is gone. Silently they point to the
grave - and then to Heaven." By 1876, however, change
had become evident. More details appeared about the
time and place of the funeral. Biographical sketches
relating when and where the deceased had been born,
the number of surviving children and grandchildren,
lifetime achievements, and so on read like Horatio
Alger success stories. They celebrated life and
family rather than death and the hereafter, the new
tone being inspired largely by a growing tendency
toward religious liberalism in the 1870's.


> A bit a go there was an e-mail posting regarding
> obits over the years I have
> looked hi and low for that to share with others and
> just can not locat e it I
> hope someone here has it that I might recopy it.
>
> Thank you
> Marilyn.
>
> I believe the posting was from a section of a book
> or magazine
>


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